Landmine kills Marine officer
By James Mananghaya, Roel Pareño
The Philippine Star – www.philstar.com
Thursday, October 22, 2009
MANILA, Philippines - A Marine officer was killed, while his subordinate was wounded along with a civilian after being hit by a landmine planted by suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits in Barangay Tugas in Patikul, Sulu yesterday, a military spokesman said.
Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo, Navy spokesman, said in a report that the officer and his men in the 5th Marine Battalion were conducting combat patrol when the explosion happened at around 9 a.m.
The improvised explosive, he said, was planted in a cut-off water pipe.
The two Marines were rushed to Camp Teodolfo Bautista in Jolo but the officer was pronounced dead on arrival. Their identities were temporarily withheld pending notification of their families.
The enlisted man was reported to be in stable condition and was to be airlifted to Zamboanga City.
It was in Barangay Tugas where the Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani was killed two years ago during a Marine offensive.
This week, Abu Sayyaf bandits blew up a bridge and a cell site in Sulu.
Marine officer killed
By Mario J. Mallari
The Daily Tribune – www.tribune.net
Thursday, October 22, 2009
The military yesterday suffered another blow from Muslim extremists, losing a junior officer when an improvised bomb believed to have been planted by the Abu Sayyaf bandits went off within the vicinity of a military detachment in Sulu province.
During the explosion which erupted around 9 a.m. while the Marine personnel were reportedly fixing the water line within the vicinity of the detachment.
Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo confirmed the explosion but refused to identify the victims, apparently pending notification of their respective families.
“Elements of the 35th Marine Company, Marine Battalion Landing Team-5, while conducting patrol along the vicinities of Barangay Upper Tugas in Patikul, Sulu, were hit by a landmine. Accordingly, the IED (improvised explosive device) was planted along the cut off water pipe and when the said personnel passed near the vicinity to check the water pipe, it suddenly exploded,” Arevalo said.
He added two Marine personnel were initially wounded but one of them subsequently died.
“An officer and an enlisted Marine were wounded. The officer, however, was pronounced dead on arrival at the trauma center in Busbus, Jolo, while the enlisted Marine survived and now in stable condition,” Arevalo said.
Arevalo blamed the attack on the Abu Sayyaf group, saying “the ASG continued with its terrorist and illegal activities with such treacherous attacks.”
Only on Monday, Abu Sayyaf bandits snatched Gabriel Canizares, acting principal of Sanda Elementary School, in Patikul town and then blasting a cellular site in the municipality of Parang.
And then on Tuesday, two boxes of IEDs were recovered by government forces under a bridge in Indanan town.
At least two bridges in Sulu province were also blasted with IED explosions during the past weeks by the Abu Sayyaf.
Late last month, the Abu Sayyaf was also blamed for the roadside bombing along the boundaries of barangays Luansing and Kagay in Indanan town that killed two United States servicemen and a Marine soldier.
The resurgence of Abu Sayyaf atrocities in Sulu province recently was branded by the military, particularly Western Mindanao Command chief Maj. Gen. Ben Dolorfino, as an attempt to cover up for the dwindling ammunition of the bandit group.
Dolorfino has said the Abu Sayyaf bandits are resorting to bombings and other treacherous attacks to make up for its dwindling ranks and firepower.
College students warned against NPA recruitment
By Phoebe Jen Indino
Manila Bulletin – www.mb.com.ph
Thursday, October 22, 2009
CEBU CITY –The Central Command (Centcom) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines is asking college students to be critical in joining legal fronts of the New Peoples Army (NPA), as it can ruin their future or may even be the cause of their untimely death.
Col. Oscar Lasangue of the Centcom’s Civil Relations Group made this statemnet after another batch of graduates of Cebu universities were arrested in Negros Oriental following an alleged shootout with members of the 79th Infantry Battalion Sunday night.
Arrested were Maria Carla Alvarico, 22, alias “Janet Macarasig,” a licensed nurse working with Velez hospital and a resident of Plaridel St., Barangay Umapad Mandaue City; Carlo Cabahug, 22, an Associate Computer Technician student of the University of San Carlos and resident of Maguikay, Mandaue City; and Absin Glen Felamer, 22, alias “Bryan,” a political science student of the University of Cebu and resident of Plaridel, Guihulngan, Negros Oriental.
After said encounter, a bloodstained backpack, a .38 revolver, documents and notes on communist teachings, a first aid kit and a nylon rope were found in the possession of the three graduates.
The three are believed to be members of such NPA legal organizations like the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) and the League of the Filipino Students (LFS).
To recall, late last year, a CEGP member named Rachel Mae Palang, who was reported to have joined the NPA movement died during an encounter with the military. A former member of the CEGP said Palang was a close friend of Alvarico. Both of them came from the same school and were active officials of the CEGP-Visayas chapter.
Other former Cebu students allegedly killed during past military encounters were Marvin Marquez of Southwestern University, Jerry Badayos of University of San Jose Recolletos and Guillermo Alburo of the University of the Visayas.
Meanwhile, Senior Supt. Augusto Marquez Jr., Chief of the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office, said they had already filed rebellion charges against the three last Monday afternoon before the Negros Oriental Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.
Currently, the three are detained at the Zamboanguita Police Station.
Lasangue said that depsite their agressive campaign and school visits to conduct orientation on the possible ill-effects of joining identified legal fronts of the NPA they can not just stop students from doing so as “it’s a choice they make and this is a democratic country; but we just want to emphazise that we have warned them already.”
The military official also urged parents to be critical in checking the activity of their children in college as the NPA also recruits tertiary students. Recruitment by the NPA is done through their legal front organizations which has access inside the different universities here.
“We are warning parents to check on the activities of their children or might as well check on the invitation for possible immersion or camping activities, as this might endanger their lives,” he said.
Lasangue explained that to save their children from recruitment by the NPA and save them from endangering themselves because of their joining the NPA’s countryside struggle, parents should be assiduous in monitoring the activities of their children, particularly those who are very idealistic.
Ex-NPA rebs abduct 7 forest guards
By Marlon Ramos
Philippine Daily Inquirer – www.inquirer.net
Thursday, October 22, 2009
MANILA, Philippines—Former guerrillas of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) allegedly involved in illegal logging Wednesday abducted seven forest rangers protecting a vital watershed in Butuan City, police said.
The rebel returnees led by a certain Andot Behing seized the foresters of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) at gunpoint while on field survey in Barangay Anticala around 1 a.m., said Chief Supt. Lino Calingasan, the region’s police director.
Citing a DENR report, Calingasan said that the forest guards did not inform local police that they were on their way to Anticala, said to be an NPA stronghold, to check on reports of illegal logging.
“They failed to coordinate with us as what other DENR personnel usually do,” he said in a mobile phone interview.
Behing identified himself as the leader of the kidnappers when he contacted community environment officer Jaime Acebu on his mobile phone, Calingasan said.
“The kidnappers have yet to make any demands,” he said. “We expect it’s something about logging. That group is known to be engaged in illegal cutting of trees in Agusan province.”
Calingasan said Behing allowed Acebu to talk with one of the kidnapped foresters, Emiliano Gatillo Jr.
He said Behing assured Acebu of the victims’ safety and agreed to release Gatillo on Thursday “apparently to use him as their courier.”
Calingasan said Behing’s group was also involved in a similar abduction several years ago.
Gunmen wearing bonnets
He said Task Force Anticala, composed of local authorities, had been formed to secure the safe release of the victims.
The abduction was carried out by seven motorcycle-riding gunmen wearing bonnets, police in Butuan said.
A day before, the forest rangers had rejected a demand from an armed man who approached their checkpoint to allow a cargo of logs to pass through, the DENR said.
The gunmen then appeared before dawn Wednesday and took the forest rangers and their vehicle away at gunpoint, the DENR said.
“The team leader of the kidnapped personnel was able to call this morning that they are currently in the mountains and the kidnappers will be sending their demand letter,” the department said.
Police and military units have been dispatched to find the missing men.
Ore, timber poaching
Supt. Joseph Plaza, city police chief, said the gunmen on motorcycles arrived at the DENR monitoring station at Anticala before dawn, seized the men who were investigating rampant mineral ore smuggling and timber poaching in the Anticala-Taguibo area and hustled them to a waiting vehicle.
“We could not see any motive other than our drive to curb the smuggling of mineral ores and timbers from the watershed area,” Acebu said.
Aside from Gatillo, Acebu identified the other abducted foresters as Gabriel Arlan, Rito Espinido, Jovito Perater, Eufredo Pohadas, Efren Sabuero and Eduardo Abugatal.
Abduction denounced
Environment Secretary Lito Atienza condemned the abduction “in strongest terms possible.”
“The government will not tolerate this intimidation, and it will not deter us from pursuing our environmental protection programs,” Atienza said.
Atienza ordered DENR Regional Executive Director Edilberto Buiser “to coordinate with proper authorities and to look after the safety of the abducted employees.”
Butuan residents have been suffering perennial shortage of drinking water blamed by local water officials on the unabated small-scale mining, timber poaching and road construction activities inside the watershed.
Source of potable water
The 4,300-hectare watershed is a primary source of potable water for Butuan’s nearly 500,000 residents and has huge deposits of manganese, copper, gold and nickel. The watershed area straddles Butuan and the towns of Remedios T. Romualdez and Cabadbaran in Agusan del Norte.
Abner Caga, spokesperson of the multi-sectoral Task Force Watershed formed to look into the destruction at the watershed, also condemned the abduction and called for the immediate release of the captives.
“The abduction undermines our resolve to save the Anticala-Taguibo watershed from further denudation and destruction,” he said. With reports from Nikko Dizon, Franklin A. Caliguid, Inquirer Mindanao, and Agence France-Presse
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