The relentless Retooled Community Support Program (RCSP) operations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in a town in Western Samar which has which now has lasted more than a year has failed to break the firm unity of the peasant masses and their support to the revolution. The said town is part of a guerrilla front which the 8th ID has touted to have “decimated.”

During this time, soldiers repeatedly summoned farmers in a military camp to force them to “surrender” and serve the reactionary army as assets or spies. They were coerced to lie, and pretend to have “come down from the mountains due to difficulties,” or admit that they are “members” of the people’s militia, local Party branch or committees of local chapters of the Pambansang Katipunan ng Magbubukid.

In a barrio, residents collectively decided to disobey the summons of the military to express their opposition to the harassment against them. Afterwards, policemen and soldiers in plainclothes repeatedly entered the community to identify residents who disobey their orders.

Villagers complained that they could no longer go to their farms over fears of police and military surveillance. Hunger caused by the military operation is worse than what they experienced during the lockdown.

To monitor the operations of the military and police, villagefolk scheduled to guard their community round the clock. They also implemented a logbook system to list down the names of all individuals who enter their community. Tree logs were also placed along the road to prevent the entry of vehicles and motorcycle which the military and police use to enter their community.