Amid mounting calls for an investigation, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) maintained Saturday, Dec. 3, that the slain consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) during a military operation in Kabankalan City recently was behind “all” the attacks perpetrated by the New People’s Army (NPA) in Negros Island.

Ericson Acosta died along with a companion, Joseph Jimenez, in what the 94th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army described as an encounter with NPA forces in Sitio Makilo, Barangay Camansi, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental last Nov. 30.

Col. Medel Aguilar, acting spokesperson of AFP, said Acosta was the deputy secretary of the Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in Negros Island.

Human rights groups, on the other hand, said Acosta was a poet, a former editor of University of the Philippines (UP) student publication Philippine Collegian, and a resource person of the NDFP who was working on the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER); while Jimenez was a peasant organizer.

“Let us not be fooled to think and say that being ‘NDF consultant,’ as what they portray him, makes him naïve and harmless,” Aguilar said of Acosta.

“The truth is, it is just a cover to his being the deputy secretary of regional committee of CPP in Negros Island. Such position makes him the brain and author behind all crimes and unlawful acts of the NPA in the island,” he added.

But Karapatan, an alliance of human rights groups, and peace advocates from Pilgrims for Peace called on the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to investigate the death of Acosta and Jimenez, who they claimed were captured alive before being killed by the troops.

“The details surrounding his death need to be thoroughly and impartially investigated due to possible violations of human rights and international humanitarian law,” Pilgrims of Peace said in a statement.

‘Encounter’

According to the AFP, joint forces from the 94IB and 47th Infantry Battalion (47IB) encountered around 10 suspected NPA fighters in Kabankalan City last Nov. 30.

The military said residents of Sitio Makilo in Barangay Camansi complained that there were individuals who introduced themselves as NPAs and extorted food supplies from them, leading them to report the incident to the 94IB.

This prompted the 94IB to conduct a military operation against the NPAs, who they said were involved in a series of encounters in Carabalan, Himamaylayan City in October.

The soldiers and around 10 armed men figured in a firefight around 2:10 a.m. of Nov. 30 which led to the death of two suspected NPA fighters. They were later identified as Acosta and Jimenez.

Pilgrims for Peace, however, pointed out the military previously announced that Acosta and Jimenez had been captured alive.

“However, a few hours later, the Armed Forces of the Philippines declared them as casualties of a supposed armed encounter,” the group said.

Responding to the allegations, Aguilar stood by the account of the 94IB that Acosta and Jimenez died in an armed encounter.

"Our troops were there on the ground and reported what happened, the truth. Some people are far from the truth, and tell tales," he noted.