Ex-CAFGUs Score Hiring of RPA-ABB Members as Forest Guards
Warn of armed struggle if unheeded

Negros Paramilitary Veterans Association (NPVA) vice-chairperson Juanito Derba and other NPVA officers denounced as unfair and "too much" the Negros provincial government's deployment of Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB) as forest guards. Meanwhile, they warned that if their continuing demands for separation pay and jobs remain unheeded by government, their group might "go to the other opposition groups" and rearm themselves.

By Karl G. Ombion
Bulatlat.com

Armed CAFGU paramilitary man guards PNOC 
on Mt. Kanlaon in Negros

BACOLOD CITY – The vice chair of the Negros Paramilitary Veterans Association (NPVA), Juanito Derba, and other NPVA officers last week denounced as unfair and "too much" the Negros Occidental provincial government's deployment of Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB) as forest guards. 

Derba said that its group composed of former members of the Citizens Armed Force Geographical Unit (Cafgu) was "far more capable than the RPA-ABBs" and should be given preference - but continue to be denied - separation pay, sufficient livelihood programs and job privileges now enjoyed by the RPA-ABB. They warned that if their demands for these benefits and jobs remain unheeded by government, their group might "go to the other opposition groups" and rearm themselves. 

In an interview, NPVA Secretary General Alex Penifuna, treasurer Arnel Rosales, and NPVA directors Jojie Posales, Generoso Javeloso, Randy Alterado, and Rolan Cauntoy revealed that after the group presented to media its demands, some of its members received death threats and warnings to stop protesting from units of the RPA-ABB.

Derba said that in a recent dialogue provincial government officials promised to explore the NPVA demands. He remains skeptical about the outcome of these talks, however.

NPVA adviser Ariel Tuvilla denied criticisms from various quarters that his group is mercenary.  However, he said, "If the government fails, we will not allow anymore our services to be hired by the highest bidder, but render it to the basic masses whom we all belong." 

Penifuna said that most of their members are now unemployed.  Derba said that he feels bitter, being along with his fellow ex-CAFGU paramilitary recruits "treated like dirt only to spit out by government when their services were no longer needed."

The NPVA members are among hundred of poor peasants recruited as militiamen by the Philippine Constabulary (now Philippine National Police) and, later, by the Philippine Army into the Cafgu in Negros. Cafgu units were funded by groups of sugar planters and used in the military's counter-insurgency operations against the peasant-based New People's Army.

The NPVA was organized in 1998 to help ex-Cafgu members find work.  Claiming a total island-wide membership of 5,000, the group has been actively pressing for its demands for separation pay and jobs.

The RPA-ABB, a faction that bolted the NPA in the early 1990s, has been accused by various quarters in Negros including local officials as some kind of a lost command whose service is for hire. It has also been accused of degenerating into an Army paramilitary unit in the fight against the NPA. Bulatlat.com

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