IN ITS 3-YEAR TARGET TO STAMP OUT REDS
AFP vows to abide by law, uphold human rights
By Mario J. Mallari
The Daily Tribune – wwww.tribune.net
Monday, July 26, 2010
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) yesterday promised that its three-year self-imposed target to finally defeat the communist insurgency will not sway the military from following the rule of law and promoting human rights.
According to AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr., the three-year target pegged by AFP Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Ricardo David Jr. is doable within the frame of the law.
“We will approach insurgency and solve insurgency within the purview of the law…meaning to say all searches, arrests will be covered by warrants…We will give premium to documentation of neutralization operation. This is in line with our advocacy to promote international humanitarian law and human rights…We feel these are all doable things and certainly can be done within the bounds of the law,” Mabanta said.
He said military operations will all be guided by David’s policy of promotion of human rights. Upon his assumption to the top post of the AFP, David announced a new target for the military to stamp out the communist rebellion being waged by Maoist organization through its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), which is within two to three years.
Mabanta said with the dwindling number of NPA fighters, who, at present, are estimated to be less than 5,000, the three-year self-imposed target “is very much doable.”
“The CS (chief of staff) feels that it can be done. It is doable within the timeframe so we will craft a campaign plan which will be effective,” he said.
At present, Mabanta said the AFP is just awaiting the draft national strategy in the government’s dealing with rebel groups before crafting its new anti-insurgency campaign.
He noted that while being a communist is not a crime, the carrying of firearms by the NPA to promote their ideology is illegal and those with standing warrants of arrest would be subject to arrest.
“Those covered by warrants because, as we all know, the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines) is already (a) legitimate (political group) so what makes them illegal is the carrying of firearms and their use of violence to impose measures in furtherance of their goals,” Mabanta said.
This was not the first time the AFP imposed a deadline to put an end to the communist insurgency. In 2006, then President Gloria Arroyo ordered the military to wage an all-out war against the NPA to eradicate the communist rebel group but the AFP failed to accomplish the task. Last year, Arroyo again gave the military until last June 30, the day she steps down from the presidency, to render the NPA insignificant, but again the AFP was not able to achieve its set goal.
Meanwhile, more military troops have been mobilized to conduct pursuit operations against NPA rebels who simultaneously attacked an Army patrol base and a mining firm in a town in the southern province of Compostella Valley Friday afternoon.
Major Gen. Carlos Holganza, commanding general of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division (ID), mobilized his combat maneuvering troops to beef up the Army’s 25th Infantry Battalion (IB) presently pursuing some 50 heavily armed NPA guerrillas in the Mountain Diwata ranges.
Holganza also ordered the deployment of earth-moving equipment to help pursuing troops in the area and called for attack helicopter gunships of the Air Force strike wing to provide air cover to the ground troops.
He issued the directives after communist insurgents simultaneously attacked an Army outpost and a mining firm in the agricultural and mining town of Monkayo.
The rebels swooped down on the old portal of the Joel Brillantes Management Mining Corp. (JBMMC) in Tinago area, Barangay Mt. Diwalwal around 4:30 p.m. Friday.
Reports said security guards at the mining area shot it out with the rebels at the JBMMC tunnel entrance, while an undetermined number of another group of NPA guerrillas attacked the nearby outpost of the Army’s 25th IB in Sitio Depot, Barangay Upper Ulip, Monkayo.
Both attacks lasted about 15 minutes after which the raiders withdrew toward the provincial border of Compostela Valley and Agusan del Sur province.
Latest reports received yesterday by the command and tactical operation center of the Army’s 10th ID said the attacks did not cause casualties on either side.
With PNA
Rebs burn equipment
By Villamor Visaya Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer – www.inquirer.net
Monday, July 26, 2010
ISABELA, Philippines – Five logging trucks and five bulldozers owned by the Monte Alto Logging Corp. were destroyed on July 22, allegedly by suspected communist rebels who held the firm’s workers hostage for a day at Sitio Nursery in Barangay San Miguel in Echague town, the military said.
Company officials claimed that the rebels had tried to extort P1.3 million in rebel taxes for operating in the area.
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