Son of
Cordillera Red Leader Slain in Abra Clash
The namesake and
youngest son of Cordillera People’s Democratic Front (CPDF) spokesperson
Simon Naogsan was slain in a recent New People’s Army (NPA) clash with
government troops in Sitio Mabongtot, Basar, a remote village in
Sallapadan, Abra. The chance encounter was confirmed by Martin Montana,
spokesperson of the NPA’s Chadli Molintas Command (NPA-CMC) in a statement
e-mailed to the media. The encounter, he said, took place at around 2:30
p.m. on July 7.
BY LYN V. RAMO AND ACE
ALEGRE
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat
The namesake and
youngest son of Cordillera People’s Democratic Front (CPDF) spokesperson
Simon Naogsan was slain in a recent New People’s Army (NPA) clash with
government troops in Sitio Mabongtot, Basar, a remote village in
Sallapadan, Abra.
The chance encounter
was confirmed by Martin Montana, spokesperson of the NPA’s Chadli Molintas
Command (NPA-CMC) in a statement e-mailed to the media. The encounter, he
said, took place at around 2:30 p.m. on July 7.
Simon Naogsan, Jr.
was brought to a funeral parlor in Dolores town, also in Abra with the
help of the local government of Sallapadan town and the military. On
Sunday, his sister Lean brought his body to Baguio City. Examined and
autopsied at the Funeraria La Paz morgue there Monday morning, Naogsan
Jr., turning 21 on July 21, was found to have sustained five gunshot
wounds on different parts of his body.
Army Major Vicente
Basilan of the Civil Relations Service of the Armed Forces based at Camp
Allen, here who helped in the retrieval of Naogsan Jr.’s body from the
site of the gun battle in barangay (village) Ud-udiao, Sallapadan town, in
Abra, said a male NPA guerrilla was slain July 7 when government forces
and some 15 communist guerillas fought for about an hour.
Basilan, also from
Mountain Province where the Naogsans hail, said the troops were not sure
yet of the identity of the slain guerrilla. “We are checking it with ISAFP
(Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines),” he said,
as he added that in the meantime, the military would like to refer only to
the dead NPA rebel as “Ka Jr.”
NPA-CMC confirmed
that the lone fatality is Naogsan Jr. or Ka Sibat, who went on an exposure
program in Abra in March 2003 and later joined the NPA and was formally
accepted when he turned 18 on July 21, 2003.
The Agustin Begnalen
Command (NPA-ABC) operating in Abra sent a eulogy to the family saying:
“Ka Sibat is a worthy son you can be proud of, and he has made us all
proud. You have raised and taught him well… The life he chose to live
reflects the essential correctness of his upbringing. He followed his
father’s footsteps and lived up to his father’s name.”
Two M16 armalite
rifles were also recovered by troopers belonging to the Army’s 41st
Infantry
Battalion based in
Abra, Basilan claimed.
Quoting Lt. Col.
Angelito De Leon, commanding officer of the government forces, Basilan
said they were tipped by villagers of the presence of armed men in the
village prompting the military to immediately head to the area. When the
government forces were closing in, the fighting started, the military
said.
The NPA-ABC, however
stated that Ka Sibat’s team was on its way to a tactical offensive against
the 41st IB when ambushed by government soldiers who
outnumbered and outmaneuvered them. “Ka Sibat and other comrades
valiantly fought back,” the NPA-ABC stated.
Like the NPA-CMC, the
Abra red fighters also regard Ka Sibat as one of the finest sons of the
Cordillera, adding that “Ka Sibat showed the beauty of selfless service to
the people, the nobility of wholehearted devotion to the revolution, the
honor and glory of daring to fight and daring to win. His life will be a
beacon for the youth to follow.”
Naogsan Sr., a former
engineer who used to be with the Commission on Audit (CoA), joined the NPA
in the early 1990s and is currently the spokesperson of the NDF-affiliated
CPDF, but the military believes that he is the highest NPA leader in
Mountain Province.
Meanwhile, another
NPA guerrilla, Delfin “Ka Ian” Cariño, was wounded in the same encounter
and was eventually captured. Northern Dispatch / Posted by Bulatlat
BACK TO
TOP ■
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION ■
COMMENT
© 2006 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Media Center
Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided
its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
