This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 18, June 12-18, 2005
99 Soldiers Killed in NPA
Offensives in 4 Months The
revolutionary armed group New People’s Army (NPA), in various statements, claims
to have killed and wounded as many as 118 government troops and carted off at
least 44 high-powered rifles in a series of offensives nationwide the past four
months. BY
ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
The New People’s Army (NPA) mounted a number of
offensives against military and police units in various regions during the past
four months, based on statements sent to media by the Public Information Bureau
of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the regional NPA commands,
newspaper and military accounts. The single biggest operation that netted the
highest number of arms was its June 4 raid of a military detachment in Abra, a
province 408 kms north of Manila.
Abra raid
Guerrillas under the NPA’s Agustin Begnalen
Command in Abra overran early morning of June 4 the Philippine Army’s 41st
Infantry Battalion’s (IB) detachment in Brgy. Tempo, Tubo town. The NPA wounded
eight soldiers and seized 31 high-powered rifles.
Police sources said that among those wounded
were: MSgt. Agullana; MSgt. Perez; Sgt. Mamugan; Corporal Tapaoan; paramilitary
Benido Kipas; and a certain paramilitary Benedicto.
The NPA offensive came in the wake of government
pronouncements that the military would be able to defeat the insurgents in six
to ten years.
In a news release e-mailed June 5 and signed by
Simon “Ka Filiw” Naogsan, spokesperson of the Cordillera People’s Democratic
Front (CPDF), the rebels said the military killed a civilian identified as Linda
Camiling. This was contrary to earlier government troopers’ claim that the
guerillas fired at civilians and used them as shields.
“This happened because the 41st IB
violated the rules of war and insisted on using the Barangay Hall as a
detachment/patrol base, despite protests from the people,” the statement read.
In addition, Naogsan said the offensive was in
response to the intensifying militarization connected with the incursions of
foreign mining companies in the Cordillera.
“Ever since the Mining Act of 1995 was declared
constitutional, the U.S.-Arroyo regime has been aggressively enticing mining
applications and speeding up their approval through its Mining Action Plan. The
regime is baring the Cordillera for imperialist mining corporations to rape, by
eliminating all protections to the rights of national minorities to their
ancestral lands and natural resources. Concomitant to this, the regime has
militarized the Cordillera, especially in areas of people’s resistance. The AFP
(Armed Forces of the Philippines) and CAFGU (Civilian Armed Forces Geographical
Unit) are being used to pave the way for the free entry of destructive mines,”
the CPDF spokesperson said. “The government's violation of the
right of the national minorities in the Cordillera to their ancestral lands is
part of national oppression, a denial of the people’s right to
self-determination,” he added. Meanwhile, Naogsan also belied the
military’s claim that the NPA used civilians as shields in the Abra raid,
resulting in the death of a councilwoman and the wounding of two other
civilians. According to Naogsan, it was the military that had used human shields
– as proven, he said by the fact that the 41st IB had set up its
detachment in a village. Two weeks earlier, on May 22, the NPA’s
Lejo Cawilan Command in Kalinga province (some 500 kms north of Manila) raided a
detachment of the army’s 21st IB in Balbalan town. Three soldiers
were killed in the ambush and three others were wounded. There were no NPA
casualties, according to Tipon Gil-Ayab, spokesperson of the Lejo Cawilan
Command. According to Gil-ayab, the ambush was
in retaliation for what he described as the Army’s “atrocities against human
rights.” He cited in particular the killing of Bagtang Bulawit in Kilayon
village, Balbalan on Nov. 2, 2004. Gil-ayab said that Bulawit was unarmed when
captured and brutally tortured before being killed. Gil-ayab also said that the Lejo
Cawilan Command was able to seize two M-16 rifles in the ambush. “Backfire” Meanwhile, Jorge “Ka Oris” Madlos,
spokesperson of NDF-Mindanao, said in a June 3 statement that the operations of
the Army’s 4th ID in Surigao del Sur had “backfired.” Instead of
clearing the province of rebels, the military suffered 60 fatalities from March
27 to May 15. The military operation was called
“Oplan Nazareth,” aimed to clear the province of NPA guerrillas and remove
obstacles to large-scale mining and logging, said Madlos. “The AFP lost heavily in five battle
incidents since April 3 to May 12, between five battalions of AFP troops and
utterly outnumbered NPA guerillas along the borders of the municipalities of
Marihatag, San Agustin, Lianga, San Miguel and Tago, Surigao del Sur,” Madlos
said. “There were more than 60 dead AFP personnel including two army lieutenants
and an undetermined number of wounded. Although the AFP seized NPA stocks of
explosives and ordnance equipments, there was no NPA casualty.” Southern Command authorities have
denied the report. Mindanao Still in Mindanao, the NPA’s 1st
Pulang Bagani Command ambushed May 14 the combined forces of the Army’s 26th
IB and 8th IB in Kitaotao, Bukidnon, killing four soldiers and
wounding four others. Rigoberto Sanchez, spokesperson of NPA-Southern
Mindanao’s Merardo Arce Command said the ambush caught the AFP by surprise,
trapping them in an unfavorable terrain where their combat maneuvers were
limited. “The Red fighters held the initiative
during the entire three-hour fight that several enemy troops, wounded and
demoralized, relayed their intention to surrender. An M14 rifle and numerous
military logistics were seized from the fascists,” he said. He also said the NPA
suffered two casualties. The ambush was met with force by the
AFP, according to Sanchez. He said the AFP is “clearly hurting” and in a rampage
now in the hinterlands of Davao City and Bukidnon. Meanwhile, Sanchez said indiscriminate
shelling from 105 howitzers and aerial bombardment from MG520 attack helicopters
went on unabated, victimizing entire Lumad and peasant communities “What the enemy gets to achieve during
these operations is spread far and wide state terrorism, fascism and
counterrevolution, and strike fear and terror among the peasants and Lumads,” he
said. The next day, NPA guerrillas belonging
to the Julito Tiro Command raided a detachment of the 29th IB in San
Luis, Agusan del Sur. An Army soldier and two CAFGU fighters were wounded,
according to Cesar Renerio, spokesperson of NDF-North Central Mindanao. Renerio also related that a number of
the CAFGU men jumped off a cliff, leaving behind their arms and other military
supplies. Other offensives were reported in
Isabela (April 12), Quezon (April 4), Bulacan (April 26), Negros Occidental
(April 29) and Samar (april 8), where a total of 31 government troops were
killed. Security threat Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz said two
months ago that the NPA, which is on its 36th year, remains the
country’s top national security threat. Military authorities have confirmed
reports that the NPA has recovered its lost ground but is launching offensives
to say that it is still a force to reckon with. The NPA claims it operates in 130
guerrilla fronts covering 70 or nearly all of the country’s provinces. Government is trying to forge peace
with another guerrilla organization, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)
based mainly in southern Philippines, in order to concentrate on the NPA.
Government peace talks with the NPA’s
revolutionary front, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, has been
on recess for more than a year in Norway, with the NDFP accusing the Arroyo
administration of reneging from its commitment to work for the scrapping of the
NPA from the “terrorist list” of some foreign countries. Bulatlat © 2004 Bulatlat
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30 arms
confiscated in Abra province
Bulatlat