Soldiers reportedly belonging to the 80th IBPA and PNP-SAF ransacked the house of farmer and peasant leader Ronnie Manalo in Barangay San Roque, City of San Jose Del Monte in Bulacan, at around 7:00 AM yesterday, June 18, 2024. Manalo, a long-time peasant leader in SJDM is the Secretary General of KMP and the Spokesperson of Tanggol Magsasaka (Defend Farmers).

The soldiers and police forcibly entered and illegally searched Manalo’s house which was unoccupied at that time. Based on initial reports, the soldiers found a gun inside the house, most likely fabricated evidence like in numerous previous raids of activists’ residences.

Over the weekend, farmers have observed an increasing presence of soldiers in the civilian communities. Yesterday, almost a hundred combined forces of soldiers from the 80th IBPA, PNP-SAF, and SWAT started conducting operations in at least six sitios in the SJDM villages of Barangay San Roque, Barangay Paradise 3, and Barangay Tungkong Mangga, merely 25 kilometers away from Quezon City proper. The said military operations in the peasant communities of SJDM are causing intense fear and distress among residents and farmers.

KMP SecGen Ronnie Manalo is a victim of persistent red-tagging, threat, harassment, and intimidation by state forces due to his active involvement in peasant struggles in the Araneta Estates in SJDM being landgrabbed by Presidential brother-in-law Greggy Araneta III since the early 1990s.

In 2022, soldiers visited Manalo’s family and invited them to a dialogue in the barangay hall. At that time, Tanggol Magsasaka and PATRIA sought a dialogue with the local village chief of Barangay San Roque to lodge complaints over the frequent military “visits” to Manalo and Cecilia Rapiz, also a leader of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Bulacan (AMB). Also in 2022, Manalo was part of a team of farmers and peasant advocates who were fired upon and harassed by goons of Araneta Properties Inc. in Sitio Ricafort, Tungkong Mangga in SJDM.

Ensuing militarization in SJDM

Militarization persists in the agricultural communities in SDJM. Since 2018, armed the soldiers remained ‘encamped’ and living within the residential area as part of the Community Organizing for Peace and Development (COPD) operations. The soldiers have also asked the residents to go to the barangay and municipal hall to have their names ‘cleared.’

This prompted residents to file a petition to the LGU led by then-Mayor Arthur Robes to intervene and stop the militarization and demand for the pull-out of military units in civilian communities.

The Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Bulacan leaders and members have also filed numerous complaints to various SJDM barangays and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on the ensuing violations and the militarization in SJDM villages, particularly against the 80th and 48th IBPA at that time.

After the extrajudicial killing of Anakpawis organizer Larry Suganob Jr. on March 18, 2019, leaders of AMB were subjected to constant surveillance and harassment by the military. Elements of the 80th and 48th IBPA made rounds in the barangays and sitios asking for the identities of ‘members and leaders of organizations’ and asking for the whereabouts of KMP and AMB leaders. ###