News Updates - 25 February 2010 (Thursday)

CAFGUs did it – CHR
by Sonny Sales
www.journal.com.ph
Thursday, February 25, 2010

CAMALIG, Albay – The regional office of the Commission on Human Rights tagged members of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Units here in the abduction and killing of two farmers in Barangay Taplacon here last Jan. 15.

CHR Bicol director Pelagio Señar in a radio interview in Legazpi City said the victims were suspected by the military to be communist supporters.

Señar said the victims’ families and two witnesses said 14 armed men clad in military uniform abducted Vicente Moradillo, 55, and Ananias Cardiente, 28.

The bodies of the victims were found on Feb. 7.

Army spokesman Col. Leoncio Sironai of the 9th Infantry Division warned the CHR not to blame the killings on the CAFGUs.

Sironai said witnesses brought to the CAFGU detachment could not identify the “suspects” in the gallery.


NPA remains given decent burial
By Restituto Cayubit
Manila Bulletin – www.mb.com.ph
Thursday, February 25, 2010

CAMP LUKBAN, Catbalogan City, Samar — Two dead New People’s Army cadres whose bodies were found buried in shallow graves in Arteche, Eastern Samar were exhumed and given decent burials recently, according to Maj. Gen. Arthur Tabaquero, Commanding General of the Philippine Army’s 8th Infantry Division.

He said that government troops along with officials and health authorities of Bgy. Conception, in Arteche, Eastern Samar exhumed the remains of two NPA rebels who were wounded and eventually died and were buried in two shallow graves discovered by barangay folks.

The military official said the cadavers were identified as Elcon Liad alias Binal/Mila/Nilpo/Batoy and one known only as Naval/Antoy. Liad was further identified by Tabaquero as the Commanding Officer of the NPA’s Regional Security Force (RSF), Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee with code name Bangkaw.


Two rebels nabbed for kidnapping soldiers
By Al Jacinto
Manila Times – www.manilatimes.net
Thursday, February 25, 2010

ZAMBOANGA CITY: Police authorities captured two alleged Moro rebels tagged as involved in the kidnapping of a former soldier in Zam-boanga City, officials said.

Officials said the two men Abraham Ibno and Ansar Yusop were members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the country’s Muslim rebel group, which is fighting for self-determination in the restive southern region.

The rebels were arrested after they released Benjamin Almonte late Friday near the town of Ipil in Zamboanga Sibugay province. Almonte was abducted by gunmen February 6 while fishing off the coast of the village of Manicahan in Zamboanga City.

“We captured the two in a continuing operation,” said Rear Admiral Alexander Pama, head of the anti-terror Task Force Trillium and commander of the naval forces in Western Mindanao.

Almonte said his captors freed him for a still unknown reason. “The leader of the kidnappers, whom they called Commander, said he is releasing me because he pities me,” he said.

He said his two escorts ran away after they saw a group of men who turned out to be government intelligence agents. “I also ran away and ended up on the side of the government people, and one of them grabbed me and told me that I am safe and that they are from the government side,” Almonte said.

Almonte’s family did not say whether ransom was paid to the kidnappers.

No group claimed responsibility for Almonte’s kidnapping or the motive behind this and police said it is still investigating the case. But other sources said members of the so-called MILF’s special operation group under Waning Abdusalam were behind the kidnapping.

Abdusalam was also linked to the kidnapping last year of Irish Catholic priest Michael Sinnott last year in Zamboanga del Sur province. Sinnott, 80, was taken by six gunmen on October 11 from his missionary house in Pagadian City and brought to Lanao province and freed in Zamboanga City after a month in captivity. Abu Sayyaf militants had also kidnapped many people, including foreigners, in Zamboanga City in previous attacks and brought them to nearby Basilan and other areas in Mindanao.

News Updates - 19 February 2010 (Friday)

Former NPA rebel confirms wife among 'Morong 43'

By Ric Sapnu, Mayen Jaymalin

The Philippine Star – www.philstar.com

Friday, February 19, 2010

MANILA, Philippines - A former NPA rebel has confirmed that his wife was among the 43 health workers arrested by the military in Morong, Rizal.

Ranie Popetco, who went by the name “Ka Davis” when he was still with the NPA, claimed his wife Lea de Luna is still with the rebel movement.

Popetco said he only learned of the arrest of his wife, who allegedly went to Rizal to attend a seminar as part of her assignment as a health worker with the NPA, in the news.

Popetco and De Luna met while they were in the NPA and have two children, with De Luna who is already eight years with the NPA.

Popetco was with the NPA for seven years before he surrendered on March 29, 2009. De Luna, he said, has been with the NPA for eight years. He had tried but failed to convince his wife to go with him when he surrendered last year.

Popetco claimed to have been a ranking NPA leader, holding the position of vice commanding officer of the Sangay sa Partido Pampropaganda operating in the provinces of Pampanga, Bataan and Zambales.

He said the government has promised to help his wife by providing a good lawyer.

Popetco spoke to reporters yesterday at ceremonies awarding cash incentives to 25 NPA returnees held at the military’s Northern Luzon Command.

Meanwhile, the Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) said yesterday the military has victimized other health workers and rural doctors by accusing them of being members of the NPA I order to claim success in its anti-insurgency campaign.

HEAD chairman Dr. Geneve Rivera said Malacañang has given the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) full authority to crackdown on all suspected NPA fronts.

Rivera cited cases of doctors in Davao, Kalinga and Cebu who were allegedly harassed, even killed, by the military.

“These attacks shared several things: they were all politically motivated, they were all directed against those who serve marginalized communities or underserved sectors, they were justified by the military through Red-baiting and ‘Left’ or ‘NPA’ accusations,” Rivera said.

Militant groups continued to press the government and the military to free the 43 health workers, denying that they were NPA rebels.

News Updates - 08 February 2010 (Monday)

43 suspected Reds nabbed in Morong training seminar

By Maricar Cinco, Marlon Ramos

Philippine Daily Inquirer – www.inquirer.net

Monday, February 08, 2010

CAMP VICENTE LIM, LAGUNA—State forces on Saturday raided a resort in Morong, Rizal, owned by a prominent Manila doctor and arrested 43 suspected communist rebels attending a training seminar.

Lt. Col. Noel Detoyato, spokesperson of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, said those arrested in the resthouse of Dr. Melecia Velmonte, a consultant at Philippine General Hospital and professor emeritus of the University of the Philippines’ College of Medicine, were “ranking New People’s Army (NPA) leaders.”

In a mobile phone interview, Detoyato said the raid also yielded guns and high explosives. “They rented that place to conduct a seminar on bomb manufacturing,” he said.

But Velmonte refuted the military’s claims. She said that those arrested, among them 26 women, were community health workers attending a training course organized by the nongovernment organization Council for Health Development.

Velmonte, who was not arrested, assailed members of the raiding team who, she said, entered her three-hectare property “without respect.”

“I was at the gate when they came at around 6 a.m. They did not bother to identify themselves. They were very disrespectful,” she said in a phone interview.

“They were so many. I saw four six-by-six trucks, a military tank and two police mobiles,” she added. She said her help was told at gunpoint to open the gate for them.

She said the men entered her property without explaining to her what the raid was about.

Asked how she felt, she replied: “I’m not afraid. I’m very angry at those soldiers and policemen.”

Velmonte said the participants were members of various NGOs from Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, Mindoro and Pangasinan.

She said she even gave a one-hour lecture on the treatment of infectious diseases on Friday night.

“I agreed (to let them use the place) because it’s an advocacy. They want to help people in the remote areas,” said Velmonte, one of the country’s foremost experts on infectious diseases.

The Velmonte resort compound consists of a residence, a guest house and a conference pavilion.

The health training seminar, Velmonte said, started on Feb. 1 and was supposed to end on Sunday.

“(The military) said they recovered a grenade and a landmine from one of the beds of the participants,” Velmonte said. But she suspected the weapons were “planted,” since the soldiers searched the rooms without anyone else standing as a witness.

At least 300 heavily-armed soldiers and policemen conducted the raid, added her son Jose Manuel Velmonte.

Jose Manuel questioned the legality of the raid, saying the search warrant shown to them was issued against a “Mario Condes.”

“We don’t know that person. I think the raid violated several provisions of the law,” he added.

He said the soldiers ordered all the people to leave the area while they were scouring the place. “Then all of a sudden, they supposedly saw those guns and bombs,” he said.

“They entered the rooms first before they called us to witness the raid,” he said.

Detoyato, however, insisted the search was legal as it was covered by a warrant issued by Imus, Cavite, Judge Cesar Mangrobang.

He identified the weapons recovered as a .45-cal. pistol, a .38-cal. revolver, three grenades, an improvised landmine, Claymore mines, two kilograms of ammonium nitrate, blasting caps and 37 explosive sticks.

Campaign materials for the Bayan Muna party-list group were likewise taken by the raiding team, he said.

“We have been conducting surveillance operations against that group. We are sure that those persons were really NPA members,” he said.

Detoyato said the suspects were brought to Camp Capinpin in nearby Tanay town. With a report from Beverly T. Natividad

CHR to probe AFP raid in Rizal

By Katherine Adraneda

The Philippine Star – www.philstar.com

Monday, February 08, 2010

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) will conduct an investigation into the military raid on a rest house in Morong, Rizal, where 43 health workers and doctors were detained last Saturday on suspicion of being communist rebels.

CHR Chairperson Leila de Lima strongly condemned the arrest and the refusal of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to allow CHR personnel to visit the detainees.

“This is an affront to our institution as it is a disrespect to our mandate,” she said. “We will lodge a formal protest on this matter with the AFP leadership.”

De Lima had dispatched a quick reaction team (QRT) from the CHR-National Capital Region at Camp Capinpin to check on the condition of the arrested persons.

However, the military authorities blocked the entry of the CHR team who waited for hours until De Lima ordered them to pull out of Camp Capinpin, headquarters of the 202nd Infantry Brigade of the AFP.

“To preserve the dignity of our institution, and upon recommendation of our NCR Regional Director, I have decided to pull out our team from Camp Capinpin, rather than expose them to further indignities borne out of the camp authorities’ continued refusal of entry. It is most condemnable,” De Lima said.

She reminded the military that the CHR has visiting powers as expressly guaranteed in the Constitution, noting she also received prior reports that the military is also not allowing visits from relatives and friends of the arrested health personnel.

Various groups have condemned the arrest, saying it was an “illegal raid and a violent abduction.”

The Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the arrested which consist of two doctors, a nurse, midwife and health workers.

HEAD secretary-general Dr. Geneve Rivera said the victims were falsely accused of holding a bomb making seminar. She insisted that they were conducting health skills training at the rest house of Dr. Melecia Velmonte, a consultant of the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH).

HEAD said the military and police teams, which were led by Col. Aurelio Baladad and a certain Superintendent Balonglong, respectively, had the training participants line up, frisked, blindfolded, and forcibly brought to Camp Capinpin.

The group likewise said that the personal belongings of the health workers and doctors, as well the training materials used were all confiscated by the military.

“The raiding team used bogus search and arrest warrants, and disregarded the rights of Dr. Velmonte, who owns the property,” Rivera added.

The umbrella militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) likewise denounced the “Gestapo-like mass arrest” of the health workers and doctors.

Bayan said that the alleged explosives found in the house of Velmonte were “obviously planted” by the military and police.

Meanwhile, the police said they are ready to file charges of rebellion and other criminal offenses against the 43 suspects,

In a phone interview with The STAR, Col. Noel Detoyato, 2nd Infantry division commander, said charges of illegal possession of explosives and firearms and violation of Omnibus election code and rebellion are set to be filed by authorities at the Regional Trial Court in Morong, Rizal. – With Sheila Crisostomo, Michelle Zoleta and Ed Amoroso

News Updates - 04 February 2010 (Thursday)

NPA kills farmer in Samar

Manila Bulletin – www.balita.ph

Thursday, February 04, 2010

ORMOC CITY, Feb. 3 — New People's Army (NPA) rebels killed a farmer in Matuguinao municipality, Samar last Monday.

According to reports, Arman Diaz, resident of Brgy. Maduroto of the said town was shot dead by five unidentified members of NPA at his farm. The rebels used assorted high powered firearms.

The reports also said that Diaz died on the spot as he sustained gunshot wounds all over the body.

According to reports of the Army’s 34th Infantry Battalion, the victim was slain in front of his children and wife. It also said that Diaz' body was allegedly dragged and displayed at the center of the barangay plaza.

According to the residents, Diaz has no known enemy, quiet and hard-working.

Residents of Matuguinao, including the victim’s family, have asked human rights groups, especially the Katungod-Sinirangang Bisayas to investigate the killing.

The Matuguinao PNP is now conducting investigation to give justice to the victim. Lt. Col. Jose B Gongona, 34 IB head, ordered the pursuit against the perpetrators.

Major General Arthur I. Tabaquero, Commander 8ID, said, “this is a clear manifestation that the terrorist NPA are the number one violator of human rights. This is also the reason why the development in the province is at stake.” (PNA)

5 soldiers killed, 8 hurt in Abra landmine blast

By Ding Cervantes

The Philippine Star – www.philstar.com

Thursday, February 04, 2010

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga , Philippines – Five Army soldiers were killed while eight others were wounded after their group tripped on a landmine reportedly set up by New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Tubo, Abra last Monday night.

Maj. Rosendo Armas, Armed Forces’ Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) spokesman, confirmed this in a text message, although 1st Lt. Eduard Sia-ed, information officer of the Army’s 503rd Infantry Brigade, confirmed only six wounded.

Nolcom though, in an earlier official statement, merely referred to “several casualties” in the incident.

Pressed for more details, Armas later sent The STAR a text message confirming that five Army soldiers were killed and eight others were wounded in the landmine explosion.

The Nolcom statement said the victims were all from the 501st Infantry Brigade. It did not name those killed but identified among those wounded as Sgt. Rodolfo Dombrique Jr., Pfcs. Frank Nawi, Felix Gac-oy, Antonio Allawi, Jaylord Robredo, and Glendon Guillermo, and Pvt. Jay-ar Laman.

The wounded were flown to the Abra Provincial Hospital in Bangued for treatment and eventually to the AFP Medical Center in Quezon City the following day, with the help of the Abra provincial government and Abra Rep. Cecilia Seares Luzon, Nolcom said.

The soldiers were conducting pursuit operations when one of them tripped on an improvised explosive device, which Nolcom identified as a landmine allegedly planted by fleeing NPA guerrillas in a mountainous area in Barangay Kili, Tubo town, a report from Sia-ed said.

“The use of landmines is clearly prohibited under International Humanitarian Law. The incident only confirms the terrorist character of the NPAs. Historically, the use of landmines has also been a practice of local terrorist groups to inflict heavy casualties against government troops, and sometimes (even against) Armed Forces’ supporters or politicians,” Nolcom said

Pursuit operations were led by the 503rd IB headed by Col. Essel Soriano but the NPA rebels were believed to have mixed with local residents.

An attempt of the NPA rebels to ambush soldiers from the 41st IB led to a firefight in Barangay Lat-ey in Malibcong, Abra at around 1 p.m. last Tuesday, but no casualties were reported on either side, Nolcom said.

Nolcom quoted Soriano as saying that military troops “will press on the campaign (against communist rebels) in pursuit of the AFP’s objective to reduce the NPAs to insignificant levels (and thus) secure the environment for effective governance by local chief executives.”

Gunmen burn school in Cotabato mine site

By Edwin Fernandez

Philippine Daily Inquirer – www.inquirer.net

Thursday, February 04, 2010

COTABATO CITY — Gunmen on Monday torched a four-room elementary school near a mining site in Tampakan, South Cotabato, authorities said Wednesday.

Police and military reports said the gunmen, numbering about 10, attacked the village of Danlag, Tampakan, at about 11 p.m. and set fire to the rooms at the Datal Biao Elementary School.

Lt. Col. Joshua Santiago, chief of the 27th Infantry Battalion, said the attack on the school building came weeks after a company of soldiers was deployed to the area.

“We are still investigating, the police is still investigating,” said Santiago. “The area is communist rebel-infested and we can only surmise.”

Police have yet to determine the cost of damage to the school building built by a mining company to support the education of indigenous children, Santiago said.

Santiago condemned the attack claiming the school has nothing to do with whatever ideology the attackers have been fighting for.

The school, built near the Sagittarius Mines Inc. mining site, was established several years ago to help in the education of indigenous peoples, especially the B’laan tribesmen’s children.

Barangay Danlag is home to copper and gold deposits with Sagittarius getting the green light from national government to explore in Tampakan despite opposition from tribal groups and the local church.

Since the mining site was established about two years ago, the foreign firm has been subjected to attacks and harassment by communist rebels, interested groups and even extortionists.