Soldiers repel NPA attack; two rebels killed, high powered firearms recovered

Mawab, Compostela Valley Province – Two members of New People’s Army were killed while two high-powered firearms were recovered 11:45 a.m. Sunday following an encounter with government troops in Brgy. Calabcab, Maco, Compostela Valley Province.

 

Commander of 71^st Infantry Battalion, Lt. Col. Jerry Borja, disclosed that said attack was a deliberate offensive operation of notorious group to harass the residents who have been in support to the Army’s Peace and Development Outreach Program (PDOP). “Our Peace and Development Team were having a community consultation in barangay hall when NPAs, despite the presence of civilians, attacked and peppered the area with bullets”, he said adding that the attack was another act of idiocy and desperation of the NPAs in response to the rejection of the community.    

  

“Our troops refrained from firing to secure first the civilians. This resulted to seven soldiers wounded in action (WIAs)”, Borja said. He identified the WIAs as Sgt. Marlon Parong, Cpl. Romualdo Tangonan, Pfc. Erwin Manabat, Pfc. Rocky Molina, Pfc. Jaypee Sionillo, Pfc. Carmelo Cachuela, and Pfc. Ludivico Elegio Jr. who are now recuperating in Camp Panacan Station Hospital, Panacan, this city.

 

 “Troops returned fire right after they have secured the residents in the area”, he added saying two of the criminal group NPA were killed in said clash which lasted for about three hours. He identified the two as certain Manny and Max. Also recovered in the area were one M16 rifle and one M14 rifle and five improvised landmines. “Amidst being outnumbered, our troops were still able to drive away more or less 60 members of the NPA”, he said.

 

Borja disclosed that two civilians were also wounded identified as Grace Buayaban Malisa, 22 years old, who was hit in her right tricep and Adela Tomas Madanlo, 46 years old, who was wounded in her right stomach and both her feet and legs due to shrapnel. He also revealed that one of the victims was shot by the NPAs based on initial interview. “She said that when one of the NPAs pointed her the gun, she raised her hand saying she was a civilian pleading to spare her, but the rebel still shot her”, he said but failed to name the victim.

 

“This act is clearly out of their frustration to stop the success of Maco in gaining peace and development. They attacked government forces without considering the presence of civilians that may be caught in between crossfire”, Borja said.

Magpakatotoo kayo!

Coming out with surprises is the renewed word war between the Maoist communist sectoral front  organization – ANAKBAYAN, and AKBAYAN, a self-claimed socialist organization that the Maoist claims are allies of President Aquino III.

Truly, the latter has entrenched some of their key leaders in President Aquino’s cabinet. Their influence could either be productive or cataclysmic with Akbayan steadfast in their commitment to institute change and reforms in government through the peaceful political process.

Their approach has endeared many, especially those whose mindset are easily described as ‘White Paper’ for not  knowing anything about communism and the evils it brings. This too might have caught the interest of our country’s sitting leadership as most of them are unaware of the real character that marks our country’s veiled enemy.

Surprised though is what I feel when Vencer Crisostomo, like many of his peers in the Maoist sectoral front and pseudo partylist organization, described as ‘Red Baiting’ Rep. Walden Bello’s statement alluding Anakbayan and KMU as front organizations of the Maoist communist insurgency, here.

True enough, Rep. Bello is the n^th person who truthfully said and bared the facts that Anakbayan, Kilusan Mayo Uno (KMU), Bagong Alyansya Makabayan, Gabriela, and many others under the CPP-NPA-NDF’s National United Front Commission (NUFC) have tried vainly to evade. No one else but their leader and revered founder Jose Ma. Sison’s admission, in his speech in Brussels, Belgium in March 4, 1987, that indeed Bayan, LFS, Gabriela, and others, “. . . . . are the legal (read: aboveground) democratic forces in the Philippines” cleared whatever cloud of pretension these Maoist communist organizations have been mouthing ever since.

Bakit sa kabila ng mga pahayag ni Joma Sison, nagtatago pa rin itong  Vencer Crisostomo sa butas-butas na palda ng kasinungalingan?

For the sake of argument pwede nating pagbigyan itong mga argumento ng Anakbayan. Pero ang mabigat na katanungan ay BAKIT AKBAYAN LANG ANG PINUPUNTARYA NINYO?  Bakit tameme kayo sa kaso ng Bayan Muna, Act, Gabriela, Kabataan, Anakpawis, Katribu, Partido Makabayan, KMU at iba pa na klaro namang tumutugaygay sa pampulitikang linya ng CPP-NPA-NDF?  Isang bukas-na-lihim na ang mga organisasyong nabanggit ay legal na mukha ng pampulitikang pakikibaka na sinusulong ng CPP-NPA-NDF “sa pagpapalakas ng armadong rebolusyon mula sa kanayunan” upang ibagsak ang kasalukuyang Pamahalaaan ng  Republika ng Pilipinas.

Meron akong pang-idoheyang agam-agam sa pampulitikang linya na sinusunod ng Akbayan. Pero lalong nakakabahala at sobrang delikado para sa ating mga kalayaan at demokrasya itong ginagawa ng Anakbayan sa pangunguna ni G. Crisostomo Vencer.

In the end, the Filipino people deserve the truth! The continued lies and pretension you have mastered ever since does NO GOOD for the country and the entire Filipino people!

Magpakatotoo kayo!

A Peaceful Life Taken Away by Own Comrades

Mati City, Davao Oriental – Ruperto C Cadungog was a great father to his seven children and a loving husband to his wife. He works hard as security personnel only to make both ends meet and provide a decent life for his family. But on Sunday, in front of his pleading relatives, he was killed for one reason that government authorities’ confirmed, he was a former commander of the rebel group New People’s Army who has returned to the fold of law for a new lease in life.

 

Cadungog, known by his former cohorts as Toper, was shot to death 7:45 p.m. at his own residence in Sitio Fairview, Brgy. Central, Mati City, Davao Oriental. Being witnessed by his relatives, this brutal execution sowed fear and, inevitably, trauma preventing them to cooperate and give details to police authorities. After the incident, his kin immediately rushed him to Camillus Hospital but was declared dead due to multiple gunshot wounds.

 

 “This is a manifestation of the barbaric nature of the CPP/NPA as anti-peace and anti-development”, said Lt. Col. Lyndon Paniza, spokesperson of Army’s 10^th Infantry Division who affirmed that NPA’s execution to former members were set to avert possible rebel returnees and may result to surrender feelers. He ensured though that security measures will be undertaken to prevent similar incident.

 

“As President Aquino forged the Peace Agreement yesterday between the GPH-MILF, the CPP, through its Organized Armed Group NPA, is continually sowing terror to peace loving citizens especially those of their comrades who decided to peacefully live a normal life”, Paniza said.

 

Last year, Cadungog surrendered to government troops and was living peacefully working as  security staff at the City Engineers’ Office of Mati City who was accorded with said job by Mayor Michelle Rabat in order to aid him in support to his children who are all at school.

 

Now, his wife is unsure where to start the new life her husband had once tried to create for them. She has no idea how she will support her seven children who may no longer go back to school. She may be clueless of what will happen to them next, but one thing she is sure of, their dreams are now scattered because of his husbands’ once affiliation to notorious NPAs caused him his life.

 

Mayor Rabat, however, has pledged to continually support Cadungog family.

 

As Paniza have said, “NPAs are desperate because of its diminishing force that is why they now resort to threatening their own members and capitalizing recruiting minors.

Bandits Attacks in Sarangani, 127 individuals evacuated

Maitum, Sarangani Province –  The attack of bandits in Maitum, Sarangani Province over the weekend has caused the evacuation of 127 individuals.

According to Maitum Mayor Elsie Perrett, the attack of the bandits was led by Salindatu Binago alias Datu Ingig last October 6 at 6 in the morning. It  resulted to the wounding of one person and the evacuation of 40 families with 127 individuals from Sitio Nalipay, Brgy Ticulab. “The local government is providing the basic needs of the affected families, who are at the evacuation center in Sitio Bem of said barangay”, she said.

"The local government has to respond to the attack, which is already second in the series of attack by the said group that started last August 16 wherein Kagawad Freddie Macatin, his wife and brother-in-law was killed. We called on the military and the police to act upon and resolve the conflict. With that, the local government is extending its full support to the clearing operations being jointly conducted by the military and the PNP", Perrett added.

“The attack of the bandits is entirely law enforcement and security concern, thus, the military and police was called upon by the LGU to restore stability in the area. Through the Joint Peace and Security Coordinating Committee (JPSCC) of the military and the PNP, troops were deployed to ensure that the barangay will be free from the clutches of the heavily armed bandits. And as the military conducts all its operations, the primacy of human rights is always at the forefront", said Col. Glorioso Miranda, 1002nd Infantry Brigade Commander.

Meanwhile, the local MILF, Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG) and the Coordinating Committe on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) invoked that the bandits are not associated with the MILF, thus, the joint operation will not hamper the on-going peace talks.

While clearing operations is being jointly conducted by the military and police, the local government is attending to the concerns of the evacuees. This is a clear manifestation of the IPSP "Bayanihan" in effect wherein the military, police and local government work hand-in-hand for the preservation of peace and security in the area, Col Miranda added.