22/05/2026
𝗦𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗧𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘀𝗼 𝗘𝗻𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿: 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀, 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵
The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) joins the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) in firmly setting the record straight regarding the April 19 encounter in Toboso, Negros Occidental. The facts presented during the joint national press conference on Thursday lead to one uncontestable conclusion: all the 19 individuals who figured in that incident were all combatants who were killed in the course of a legitimate armed engagement with government forces.
Attempts to portray some of the fatalities as just civilians, farmers, or researchers have collapsed under the weight of physical evidence, forensic findings, crime scene investigation reports, and even admissions coming from the CPP-NPA itself.
As 3rd Infantry Division Commander Major General Michael Samson clearly explained, government troops encountered armed individuals and had every reason to treat them as combatants. He likewise emphasized a painful reality: our soldiers do not choose whom they meet in battle. The identities of the NPA combatants were only known long after the guns fell silent.
Government forces continuously called on members of the armed group to surrender because no one wanted these encounters to happen.
Tragically, opportunities for peace were repeatedly ignored and rejected even during the lull in combat.
General Samson also clarified an important point regarding personalities such as Alysa Alano and RJ Ledesma.
Regardless of prior identity, profession, or affiliation, individuals found armed and actively participating during an encounter are combatants in that operational context.
Among the strongest evidence presented during the briefing were the forensic findings discussed by Police Colonel Reynaldo Calaoa of the Regional Forensic Unit–Negros Island Region. Out of the 19 fatalities, 11 tested positive for gunpowder residue.
This finding becomes even more significant when viewed in light of the conditions surrounding body recovery. Several of the fatalities remained exposed to seawater and recurring high tide for almost 24 hours before recovery and examination.
Surface gunshot residue is highly vulnerable to environmental degradation. Even ordinary washing can substantially reduce detectable residue. In this case, we are dealing with prolonged saltwater immersion, wave action, abrasion from sand and debris, and movement during recovery operations.
Yet despite these extraordinary conditions, a majority still tested positive. That is not a small detail. That is powerful forensic evidence supporting the reality of an active firefight.
Therefore, arguing that the eight who tested negative automatically did not fire weapons are not supported by forensic science. Such claim would be scientifically weak. A negative paraffin result is not proof that a person never fired a gun. It may simply indicate that by the time testing occurred, detectable surface residue was no longer present.
The mixed findings themselves—11 positive and 8 negative—are not unusual under uneven environmental conditions. Varying levels of submersion, body positions, clothing protection, tidal movement, and exposure can produce different outcomes.
The danger of simplistic conclusions becomes obvious in the case of Roger Fabillar, alias ‘Jong,’ identified as commander of the Northern Negros Front and publicly acknowledged by the NPA itself as one of its slain members. He was among those who tested negative. If anyone would insist that a negative paraffin finding automatically means non-participation in combat, then that argument immediately runs into serious difficulty.
Police Brigadier General Dennis Wenceslao likewise presented SOCO findings confirming that investigators recovered more than 20 long and short fi****ms besides ammunition, expended cartridges, communication equipment, backpacks, hammocks, medical supplies, and war materials from the encounter site—all entirely consistent with active guerrilla field operations.
Equally important, at least ten of the nineteen fatalities were publicly identified and claimed by the NPA itself as members of their organization. That is not the government speaking. That is their own movement acknowledging membership.
Among these were Fabillar and Josel Guimang, whom the NPA initially portrayed as an 18-year-old fighter, but was in fact only 17 years old. Three child combatants in total were recovered from the encounter site, once again raising serious concerns about the armed movement’s continued use and recruitment of children in combat, a clear violation of local as well as international humanitarian laws.
We also note the observations of forensic pathologist Dr. Racqel Fortun indicating no signs of close-range firing among the fatalities. Such findings make insinuations of ex*****on or foul play increasingly difficult to sustain and instead support the conclusion that these deaths resulted from a legitimate armed encounter.
Equally revealing are the shifting narratives coming from the CPP-NPA itself—first acknowledging ten members, then thirteen, and later attempting to recast several as civilians. But changing numbers do not change facts.
Equally telling, communist front organizations have called for ‘justice for all 19,’ including Fabillar, and other individuals publicly identified by authorities and acknowledged by the NPA itself as members of the armed movement.
This raises serious questions about narratives that blur distinctions between identified armed combatants and alleged civilians while disregarding the evidence and forensic findings already presented.
Justice must rest on facts and truth not on selective narratives.
The totality of evidence now speaks clearly: physical evidence, forensic examination, scene investigation, recovered war materiel, and admissions from the armed movement itself all point in one direction.
The Toboso incident was not a massacre. It was a legitimate armed engagement.
Facts matter. Evidence matters. Forensics matter.
And more importantly, the greater tragedy remains the same: more young lives continue to be wasted in a failed armed struggle despite the existence of pathways toward peace, reintegration, and development. We once again call on those who remain in the armed movement to abandon violence and choose peace before more lives are unnecessarily lost.
Usec. Ernesto C. Torres Jr.,
Executive Director
NS, NTF-ELCAC
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