"More troops deployed in Davao", " Three soldiers killed in ambush by communists" and other stories - 24 May 2010 (Monday)

More troops deployed in Davao
By Alexis Romero
The Philippine Star – www.philstar.com
Monday, May 24, 2010

MANILA, Philippines - The military will deploy additional troops in the Davao region after communist rebels killed three soldiers and wounded a militiaman in an ambush last Friday.

Capt. Emmanuel Garcia, spokesman of the Army 10th Infantry Division, said a battalion arrived in Tagum City yesterday while another battalion and units from Special Forces and Scout Rangers will come within the next few weeks.

They will be accompanied by engineers, doctors and civil-military operation units to conduct developmental projects in the communities.

“It is paramount that the people will be informed that additional troops will be deployed in the region… We are inviting our media friends to witness the arrival so that our people may be informed that the true soldiers of the masses heeded their call,” Garcia said in a text message.

The ambush, according to the military, happened near a populated area in Barangay Barakatan in Toril District in Davao City.

A local unit of the New People’s Army (NPA) fired at a group of soldiers and militiamen, killing three members of the Army’s 69th Infantry Battalion – Sgt. Raul Candilao, Pfc. Jerry Iann Guling, and Pfc. Julius Vigilla.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) condemned the ambush and vowed to bring its perpetrators to justice.

“It is a treacherous act. It is a desperate move of the NPA because they know that their decline is irreversible,” AFP spokesman Lt. Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr. said in a phone interview.

Burgos said the ambush does not mean that the NPA had regained its strength since the rebels are only preying on soft targets.

He, however, said the incident is a source of concern. “We are concerned that is why we are asking our troops to be careful. But the ambush is just an isolated case,” Burgos said.

Garcia said the ambush proves the NPA’s treachery and total disregard to civilians who may be hit by their bullets.

“Fortunately for our people, no civilian was injured in this recent ambush in Davao City,” Garcia said in a statement.

“We call on our lost brothers and sisters in the mountains to take the peaceful path toward societal change and spare our people of the pains and gory outcomes of each violent means they take,” he added.

The NPA has been launching successive attacks in the past few weeks that resulted in casualties on the military side.

Early this month, rebels in the nearby province of Compostela Valley ambushed a convoy of poll officials who were about to return counting machines to Maragusan town for canvassing.

The attack claimed the lives of two soldiers, two militiamen, an election officer and a poll watcher.

Last week, insurgents in Camarines Sur abducted and killed two militiamen after burning two heavy equipment of a construction firm.

The military said the strength of the NPA declined to just 4,702 last year from a peak of 25,000 in 1987.

Despite this claim, AFP chief Gen. Delfin Bangit has admitted that they would not be able to meet the June 30 deadline of wiping out communist rebellion in the country. – With Edith Regalado




Three soldiers killed in ambush by communists
The Manila Times – www.manilatimes.net
Monday, May 24, 2010

DAVAO CITY: Three soldiers were killed in an ambush by communist guerrillas in southern Philippines, the latest in a wave of attacks by the New People’s Army (NPA), the military said Sunday.

The soldiers were buying supplies at a market when they were attacked by about 30 NPA rebels in strife-torn Mindanao island Saturday, military spokesman Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang said.

One militiaman deputized by the army was also wounded in a brief firefight after troops at a nearby patrol base rushed to the area, he said.

“The ambush site was just 500 meters from a militia patrol base and troops were able to respond and recover the bodies of the slain troopers as well as the wounded,” Cabangbang added.

Saturday’s attack was the deadliest since May 11, when NPA rebels killed six people and wounded 12 others in an ambush on an election convoy also in Mindanao.

In the run up to the polls, four police commandos were also killed in an NPA attack just outside the capital Manila in April.

The Maoist-inspired NPA has been waging an insurgency since 1969 that has claimed thousands of lives.

It had stepped up attacks over the past few weeks, harassing and extorting money from local candidates in the May 10 elections, and targeting police and troops delivering voting materials.
AFP


3 soldiers killed in Davao ambush
By Fernando Cariaso
People’s Journal – www.journal.com.ph
Monday, May 24, 2010

THREE soldiers died while another was hurt in an ambush carried out by New People’s Army rebels in Davao City over the weekend.

According to Capt. Emmanuel Garcia, 10th Infantry Division spokesman, the attack occurred at noon Saturday in the village of Barakatan in Toril district.

The fatalities were identified as Sgt. Raul Candilao, Pfc. Jerry Iann Guling, and Pfc. Julius Vigilla, all of the 69th Infantry Battalion.

They were out to buy food when suspected NPA rebels belonging to Front Committee 54 attacked them, said Eastern Mindanao Command spokesman Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang.

”The ambush site was just 500 meters from a militia patrol base and troops were able to respond and recover the bodies of the slain troopers as well as the wounded,” Cabangbang said.

Saturday’s attack was the deadliest since May 11, when NPA rebels killed six people and wounded 12 others in an ambush on an election convoy in Mindanao.

The NPA earlier took responsibility for the deaths of an election officer and four soldiers on May 12 in Maragusan town in Compostela Valley province.

On May 13, three soldiers and a militiaman were abducted by suspected NPA rebels while were attending a party in Mawab town in Compostela Valley. The four remain in captivity.

Garcia said Saturday’s ambush was as “reckless and treacherous” as the May 12 attack, vowing there would be no let-up against the suspects.

“We cannot go on forever like this, we cannot let such despicable acts go on unpunished,” he said.


RP rebels use child soldiers—UN
By Veronica Uy
www.inquirer.net
First Posted 09:52:00 05/23/2010

MANILA, Philippines—Three of the country’s rebel groups—Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf, communist New People’s Army, and secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front—are among the world’s “persistent violators of children in armed conflicts,” the United Nations said.

The Philippines’ three insurgent groups are among 16 different armies and insurgent groups around the world that have recruited or used child soldiers for at least the past five years, the annual report of the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict said.

Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, warned that “we still live in a world with those who would use children as spies, soldiers, and human shields.”

“The shifting nature of conflict has put many children on the front lines. Too often children become collateral damage during military operations. Every year the release of this report should give us pause. Let us remember that we must protect the most innocent and most vulnerable,” she added.

The other violators of international laws against the use of child soldiers were identified as Myanmar’s national army Tatmadaw Kyi, and the rebel Karenni Army and Karen National Liberation Army; the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN);

The national army of the Democratic Republic of Congo known as FARDC and the rebel Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP); Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), Nationalist and Integrationalist Front (FNI), the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), and various militias that are known as the Mai-Mai;
The pro-government militias in Darfur, Sudan and the southern-based Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA); and Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

The UN report also identified the groups which subjects minors to the most brutal violence, such as killings, maimings, and rapes and other sexual assaults.

At the same time, the report, which has been sent to the UN Security Council, said progress has been made with some groups which have recently signed action plans in which they aim to end the recruitment and use of child soldiers.

The MILF, the SPLA, and the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist have all signed such plans. Burundi has been removed from the annexes to the report following UN verification that all children associated with the National Liberation Forces (FNL) have been reunited with their families and that the group has ceased recruitment.

However, some groups have been named for the first time as recruiting or using children in armed conflict. These include the Afghan National Police, the rebel Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace in the Central African Republic (CAR), and Somalia’s Hizbul Islam militia.

Somalia’s Al-Shabaab, an Islamist rebel force, and the TFG both stand accused of killing and maiming children in the Horn of Africa country.

Several groups involved in fighting in the eastern DRC were named as being responsible for rapes and other forms of sexual violence against children. They are the FARDC, LRA, FDLR, the Patriotic Resistance Forces in Ituri district (FRPI), the FNI, and the Mai-Mai.

The report lists several recommendations to the Security Council for consideration, including more vigorous measures against those groups and individuals who persistently commit grave violations against children. The Council will discuss the report at an open debate next month.



Save RP’s child soldiers – UN
By Madel R. Sabater
Manila Bulletin – www.mb.com.ph
Monday, May 24, 2010

The United Nations (UN) stressed the need for the government to protect children in strife-torn areas as it cited the Philippines as one of two countries in Southeast Asia where children are being used in armed conflict and violence.

The annual report of the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict showed that three of the 16 different armies and insurgent groups reportedly using children in armed conflicts in the last five years are from the Philippines: The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), the New People’s Army (NPA), and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

“We still live in a world with those who would use children as spies, soldiers, and human shields,” Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, said.

“The shifting nature of conflict has put many children on the front lines. Too often children become collateral damage during military operations. Every year the release of this report should give us pause. Let us remember that we must protect the most innocent and most vulnerable,” she said.

Malacañang Sunday sought the help of concerned foreign governments and watchdogs to put pressure on armed rebel groups to stop using child soldiers in their armed struggle.

Deputy Presidential Spokesman Gary Olivar said they hope these foreign observers could convince rebel organizations to incorporate the issue of child soldiers in the peace negotiations with the government.

Olivar said the Arroyo administration has a policy against child soldiers and has repeatedly appealed to rebel groups to stop tapping children in the frontlines.

“We hope the international observers and other countries helping in the peace process would push for the inclusion of ending this practice by some rebel groups we are engaged in the peace process,” he said.

“This is wrong and this is against international laws,” Olivar said, referring to the rebels’ practice of tapping children in armed conflict.

The UN report tagged the ASG, NPA and MILF as “persistent violators,” along with Myanmar’s national army, known as Tatmadaw Kyi, and the rebel Karenni Army and Karen National Liberation Army in Asia.

Others include rebel and armed groups in Colombia, Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, Afghanistan, Central Africa and Somalia.

The report, however, cited the progress made by some groups, including the MILF, which have recently signed an action plan in a bid to end the recruitment and use of child soldiers.

Aside from the MILF, the report cited the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist for signing such plans.

“The report lists several recommendations to the Security Council for consideration, including more vigorous measures against those groups and individuals who persistently commit grave violations against children. The Council will discuss the report at an open debate next month,” the report stated.

It will be recalled that the MILF and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) forged an agreement in 2009 that the MILF will pull out minors serving in their camps. This development was lauded by the UN.

The MILF had resumed peace talks with the Philippine government on Dec. 8, 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

In August 2009, the UN Security Council (UNSC) had recommended to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to expand the criteria of violations against children during conflict to include those who kill, maim, rape or commit other forms of sexual violence against children aside from child recruitment during wartime.