3 soldiers hurt in Cotabato NPA ambush
Monday, May 03, 2010
MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) – Three government soldiers were injured in an ambush by suspected leftist rebels in Cotabato province yesterday, the military said today.
Army 602nd Brigade commander Col. Alejandro Estomo said soldiers of the 57th Infantry Battalion were on their way to Arakan, Cotabato, when they were fired upon by suspected members of the New People's Army (NPA).
The soldiers returned fire, and after a 30-minute firefight, the rebels withdrew.
NPA denies threatening newsman
By Jeffrey M. Tupas
Monday, May 3, 2010
DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The New People’s Army has denied it had anything to do with a funeral wreath and letter that threatened a Kidapawan City-based journalist, who also works as the information officer of Representative Bernardo Piñol.
In a letter dated April 29 but e-mailed to the Inquirer on Saturday, Ka Dencio Madrigal, spokesperson of the NPA’s Valentine Palamine Regional Operations Command, said the group did not send any death threat to Williamor Magbanua.
“May we reassure Mr. Magbanua that, as a matter of policy, and as track record shows, the NPA does not send death threats, not even to those who have been found guilty by the Hukumang Bayan (People’s Court.),” Madrigal said.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said that early in the morning of April 28, Magbanua found a wreath with a note in front of his house in Kidapawan City.
The threatening note, the NUJP said, was “Magbanua has trampled the rights of the women by sowing intrigues and fabricated reports against a political candidate who happens to be a woman.”
Magbanua has denied doing any such thing, even while he was a blocktime commentator for the Piñols over DxND.
Before working for Piñol, Magbanua worked as a reporter for the radio station DxND, one of the stations of the Oblate-run Notre Dame Broadcasting Corp.
Magbanua, 30, also writes for the Philippine Daily Inquirer and GMA7 News TV.
Madrigal suggested that Magbanua "look closely into the dirty tricks department of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ intelligence units for those suspicious-looking motorcycle-riding men who reportedly were tailing him.”
NPA rebels attack military truck carrying PCOS machines
Thursday, May 06, 2010
MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) -- Soldiers escorting election paraphernalia were attacked by suspected leftist rebels on Thursday in a province in Southeastern Luzon of central Philippines.
The 12 government soldiers were on board a KM450 military vehicle when a roadside bomb went off in Masbate at around 10:35 a. m. The soldiers were ordered to bring the voting machines or the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines in the area.
No one was injured although the windshield of the vehicle was damaged, Col. Lope Dagoy, chief of the Army's 85th Infantry Battalion, said.
It was the fifth ambush attempt on government forces using landmines by the New People's Army (NPA).
On May 3, Dagoy's unit also became a victim when a roadside bomb was detonated although no one was reportedly hurt in the attack.
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Thursday has warned that some "extreme Left" rebels are working on a plan to sabotage the May 10 presidential election.
This allegedly is part of their overall plan to cause further insurrection, AFP civil relations service chief Brig. Gen. Francisco Cruz said and identified some of the NPA members as among the "extreme Left".
"We have reports that the extreme Left wants to see a failure of election because they are enemies of the state. They would like to destroy the state. They want to overthrow the government. Anything that the government does is bad for them," Cruz said.
A faction led by Benito Tiamzon of the Communist Party of the Philippines/NPA believes that if there will be a failure of the elections, this will result in a better opportunity for them to recruit fighters, Cruz said.
NPA rebels attack soldiers guarding vote scanners
By Dennis Santos
Saturday, May 8, 2010
DAVAO CITY, Philippines—Two soldiers were injured when New People’s Army rebels fired at government troops securing vote-scanning and counting machines in Mati, Davao Oriental, on Friday, the military said.
Capt Rosa Manuel, public affairs officer of the Philippine Army’s 10th Infantry Division, said the incident took place in Taguibo village around 10:30 a.m.
The rebels withdrew after harassing the soldiers, she said.
The wounded soldiers were rushed to a hospital, Manuel said.
NPA rebels seize 3 soldiers, militiaman in Compostela
By Edith Regalado
Friday, May 14, 2010
DAVAO CITY , Philippines – New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas struck again, kidnapping three soldiers and a government militiaman in Mawab, Compostela Valley on Wednesday, just a day after they ambushed a convoy of Army soldiers escorting poll officers in neighboring Maragusan town.
Capt. Manuel Garcia, spokesman of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, said the soldiers were attending the birthday party of the three-year-old son of Cpl. Marcial Bawagan in Barangay Sawangan, Mawab town when they were seized.
The kidnapping took place just a day after four soldiers, an election officer and a poll watcher were killed and 12 others were wounded when the rebels fired at their convoy in Maragusan.
Garcia said Bawagan was visiting his family to attend the birthday of his son together with Corporals Ariel Asumo and Eduardo Alcala and militiaman Victor Pitogo when they were seized at gunpoint by the insurgents in Bawagan’s home.
The rebels reportedly belonged to the NPA’s Local Terrorist Front-27 believed to be also responsible for last Tuesday’s carnage in Maragusan.
Witnesses said Bawagan’s group was dragged into a waiting black van which sped away toward neighboring Barangay Sangab.
The rebels snatched Bawagan and his companions despite the protests of the corporal’s wife Jenny, who was carrying their son. The neighbors reportedly tried to comfort the couple’s three other children.
Compostela Valley Gov. Arthur Uy described the incident as a “barbaric” and grossly inconsiderate act of the communist guerrillas.
The Commission on Human Rights, meanwhile, condemned the NPA ambush, saying it was “a clear and unmistakable violation of human rights and the International Humanitarian Law.” – With Michael Punongbayan and Alexis Romero
NPA rebels still hold mayor, 4 bodyguards
By Franklin A. Caliguid, Germelina Lacorte
Saturday, Mat 15, 2010
BUTUAN CITY, Philippines – The good news is that Mayor Roberto Luna of Lingig, Surigao del Sur, and his four escorts are still alive. The bad news is that the New People’s Army is still holding them hostage.
Luna and several of his men were seized at a roadblock the rebels set up on a highway in Monkayo, Compostela Valley, on May 5. Luna was on his way to Davao City to visit one of his children, who was in a hospital, when the rebels stopped his convoy.
Two of Luna’s men – his aide and driver – were set free shortly after the incident but the rebels decided to take him and his four security escorts, Privates First Class Johnrey Abao and Arnel Dizon of the Army’s 58th Infantry Battalion, and policemen Police Officer 2 Boy de Castro and PO3 Alan Dapitanon into custody.
On Friday, the NPA’s Conrado Heredia Command operating in Southern Mindanao released voice clips of Luna and his security escorts.
This was the first proof that the mayor and his escorts were alive, officials said.
The voice clips were made on May 12, according to Roel Agustin II, the rebel group’s spokesman.
The NPA, Agustin said, was hopeful that the voice clips would reach the families of the captives and reassure them that their loved ones were in good health.
In the clips, Luna said he and the other captives were in “good hands” and that the rebels had taken good care of them.
Speaking in Visayan, Luna said the rebels even provided him medicines but it was not clear what for.
“Dili mi patay, buhi mi [We’re not dead, we’re alive],” another voice, identified as that of De Castro, said.
"They’re kind and they’re taking good care of us,” he added.
Agustin said the NPA was not releasing the mayor yet as he faced charges “for possible people’s crime.”
He also said they captured Luna because of the “people's clamor” to dismantle the private army that Luna had built since 2001.
Jorge Madlos, spokesman of the National Democratic Front in Mindanao, said talks between the NDF and government negotiators concerning Luna’s possible release have been stalled by the elections.
“No development yet on the negotiations for his release and his trial because of the elections. Luna and his four security escorts are in good condition and there’s no cause for their families to worry,” Madlos said.
Madlos said Luna’s freedom depended on the outcome of the investigation and his trial for murder, land grabbing, graft, illegal logging and involvement in the illegal drugs trade.
“If it’s proven during trial that Luna is guilty of the charges, then he will be meted the death penalty and if not, he would be freed,” he said.
But Madlos hinted that a “political intervention and settlement" could prompt the NPA to free Luna and waive the trial.
“But if there is political intervention and settlement between the government and NDF, then the trial and subsequent judgment could still be changed,” he said, without saying what the intervention and settlement were.
Madlos warned that any attempt to rescue Luna and his aides could lead to disaster.
Senior Superintendent Nestor Fajurra, spokesman of the police in the Caraga region, said they were relieved by the news that Luna, who was elected vice mayor of his town in last Monday’s balloting, was alive and was being treated well.
“It’s good to know that he is still alive since rumors have been circulating around that he had already been executed by the rebels,” Fajurra said.
Fajurra said the police were also hoping that the NPA would reconsider Luna’s case because he won the elections, which meant that “the people have forgiven him if he had sinned and the charges were baseless.”
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