Some filipino human rights expressed alarm that police colonel Gervacio Balmaceda, former head of the regional unit of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, (CIDG) was included in the shortlist of nominees for appointment as Director of the Iloilo Provincial Police Office.
Balmaceda was the commanding officer of the CIDG operatives that spearheaded Oplan Paglalansag Omega. This resulted in the killing of nine Tumandok leaders.
On 30 December 2020 the 12th Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army (12IBPA) troopers and the Philippine National Police in Western Visayas swooped down on Tumandok communities in Calinog in Iloilo and Tapaz in Capiz and killed nine civilians in a Synchronized Enhanced Management of Police Operation (SEMPO).
Among those killed in Lahug, Tapaz were Roy Giganto, chairperson of TUMANDUK chairperson and Barangay Lahug councilor, co-councilors Reynaldo Katipunan and Mario Aguirre. Other victims were identified as Eliseo Gayas of Barangay Aglinab, Mauro Diaz of Barangay Tacayan, and Artilito Katipunan of Barangay Acuna, Arcelito Katipunan of barangay Acuña, Jomer Vidal of barangay Daan Sur, Tapaz, and Dalson Catamin of Nayawan. One of the victims has never been identified.
The reason was that the tumandok in Calinog were against the destructive projects of the Jalaur Megadam and the Panay River Basin Integrated Development Project.
At least 17,000 Tumandoks are to be displaced by the Jalaur Megadam project, which is expected to cause flooding and other water problems to at least 1.2 million residents along the Jalaur River Basin.
The Panay River Basin project, meanwhile, will affect at least 19 barangays. Its catchment area is projected to flood at least 21,100 hectares of lands, affecting Tumandok ancestral domains.