32 was signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea on November 23, 2018, upon the orders of President Rodrigo Duterte deploying additional troops to the provinces of Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, Samar, and the Bicol Region to "suppress sporadic acts of violence" allegedly committed by lawless groups and to "prevent such violence from spreading and escalating elsewhere in the country.
[8] On August 18, 2019, a 24-year-old woman named Cristal Faith Jastiva was shot at close range by two motorcycle assailants as she was waiting for a pedicab along Magsaysay Avenue in Bago.
[9] On June 23, 2020, Jose "Jerry" Catalogo of the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) was assassinated by unidentified gunmen in Escalante.
[14][15][16][17] Local police and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) who conducted the operations alleged that the suspects opened fire and resisted arrest while being served warrants for illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
Opposition Senator Leila de Lima has called for justice for Trinidad, who, "she said, represented 'political prisoners in Negros' and 'was reportedly among the names on a hit list by an alleged anti-communist group.
Guihulngan City Police Station Lieutenant Colonel Bonifacio Tecson said that motive of killing Alipan could be his joining the anti-insurgency campaign of the government.
[30] On July 28, a man named Anaciancino Rosalita, a resident of Barangay Bucalan in Canlaon, was gunned down in broad daylight, according to Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office (NORPPO).
[31] On August 15, a grade 11 senior high school student named Joshua Partosa was gunned down and stabbed in the neck by four assailants aboard two motorcycles in broad daylight in Sibulan.
[33] Philippine National Police Chief Oscar Albayalde said that he ordered the deployment of 300 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos to Negros Island following the series of killings.
[34] Albayalde has also raised the possibility that the CPP and its armed wing the New People's Army, which blames the government for the killings, were responsible for the deaths as part of the group's propaganda.
"[38] Bishops Gerardo Alminaza, Julito Cortes, Patricio Buzon, and Louie Galbines of San Carlos, Dumaguete, Bacolod, and Kabankalan respectively denounced the killings.
[41] On August 20, the United Methodist Church said that the deployment of additional troop forces "complicated the already worsening human rights situation" on the island.