Armed Renegades in All-Out War vs NPA in Negros

The New People’s Army (NPA) last Monday stormed an outpost of the renegade group RPA-ABB and confiscated several firearms and ammunition in a Negros town, central Philippines. Soon after the raid, RPA-ABB commander Carapali Lualhati asked military and police forces to conduct hot pursuit operations against the NPA as he declared war against them.

By EDGAR A. CADAGAT and KARL G. OMBION
Bulatlat.com / Cobra-ans

BACOLOD CITY - An “all-out war” has been declared by the renegade Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB) against the New People’s Army (NPA) following a raid conducted by the latter on a safehouse of the RPA-ABB in Binalbagan town, Negros Occidental noon of July 22.

The war was announced by Stephen Peduano, RPA-ABB national commander who assumes the nom de guerre Carapali Luwalhati, in a radio interview hours after the raid. He said he had asked the police and the military to conduct joint military operations against the NPA guerrillas all over the island.

Peduano also said he issued orders to all his field commanders to waste no time in pursuing the NPA.

The NPA raid was staged without firing a single shot in Mag-anay Subvillage, Barangay Biao, Binalbagan.

Ka Juaning Magbanua, NPA front commander, narrated to radio broadcasters Sandy Villano of Radyo Agong and Ferdinand Yngson of Super Radyo that a group of RPA-ABB men were whiling away the time and playing chess when the NPA commandos crept into their safehouse in a secluded area. Taken by surprise, the renegade rebels immediately turned over their weapons, Magbanua said.

Confiscated from the RPA-ABB were six M-16 rifles, one M-14, a grenade launcher, a Garand and carbine including thousands of bullets. Also seized were assorted uniforms, backpacks, a handset and a cellular phone. Magbanua used the cellphone seized from the RBA-ABB leader, Joner, during the radio interview, it was learned.

All the renegade rebels were left unharmed.

Magbanua said in Ilonggo (the local language) that the raid was staged to remove the RPA-ABB’s “capability to carry out depredations against the people all over Negros island where they operate.”

The firearms originally belonged to the NPA but were used by the group for strafing, killing and extortion since it broke away some 10 years ago, Magbanua also said. Besides, he said, the weapons were used to protect local landlords and politicians who, he said, exploited the masses.

Sison’s orders?

Meanwhile, Peduano accused Fr. Frank Fernandez, the acknowledged revolutionary leader in Negros, of directing the tactical offensive upon orders of alleged Communist Party leader Jose Maria Sison. The latter, who is chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front (NDF), has been based in Utrecht, The Netherlands since 1987.

"If Sison wants war he should go to Negros where we will give it to him," an obviously rattled Peduano said.

Magbanua said the RPA-ABB has been engaged in military operations secretly and jointly with the Philippine armed forces and police since 1998. After asking the military and police to conduct hot pursuit operations against the NPA following the raid, the RPA-ABB gave away their cover, he added.

The raid came two days before the visit of government peace panel negotiators former Gen. Job Mayo, Rene Villa, undersecretary for Regional Development, and Teresita Quintos Deles, chair of the National Anti-Poverty Commission.

The “peace negotiations” between government and the RPA-ABB have been opposed by church and cause-oriented groups, saying the talks would give the rebel band license to commit more abuses. Cases of human rights violations by the RPA-ABB have been documented by the Kabankalan Diocese in southern Negros.

Leaders of what is now known as the RPA, led by Arturo Tabara (a.k.a. Andres Nava), broke away from the mainstream Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA in 1992 and, the following year, formed the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa ng Pilipinas (RPMP). In 1997, RPMP-RPA merged with Nilo dela Cruz’s ABB.

Tabara has been accused by Communist Party leaders of being a special agent of the military. Both Tabara and Dela Cruz entered into a peace agreement with then President Joseph Estrada sometime December 1999 in a meeting in Baguio City brokered by magnate Eduardo Cojuangco.

The two men were also linked to the assassination of Sanlakas and labor leader Popoy Lagman weeks after the Edsa 2 people’s uprising early last year. Dela Cruz, who ran away from Lagman’s group with ABB firearms, was himself investigated by police probers.

In recent months, military authorities have admitted that the CPP-NPA’s growth is posing long-term threats to the island's security.

The raid on the RPA-ABB’s outpost in Binalbagan town was the first significant tactical operation the NPA has carried out in recent months.

In two successive occasions this July, Fernandez came out with tape-recorded statements criticizing Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon for his flawed program of governance, calling the latter's rule as “mafiacracy.”

The Negros revolutionary leader also named businessman Cojuangco as Marañon's patron and several Filipino-Chinese industrialists and a bigtime real developer as leaders of criminal or drug syndicates.  Bulatlat.com/Cobra-Ans

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