This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 34, October 2-8, 2005
18 Troopers, Paramilitary Men Killed
in NPA Attacks Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo may
be flexing presidential power nowadays with a series of harsh preemptive
measures against the oust-Arroyo movement and opposition groups. Reports from
the provinces show a different picture however with claims by the Marxist New
People’s Army (NPA) of fresh tactical offensives against government troops.
By Bulatlat Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo may be flexing
presidential power nowadays with a series of harsh preemptive measures against
the oust-Arroyo movement and opposition groups. Reports from the provinces show
a different picture however with claims by the Marxist New People’s Army (NPA)
of fresh tactical offensives against government troops. NPA attacks carried out in September killed
at least 18 soldiers and led to the confiscation of several high-powered
firearms, statements sent to the media by the National Democratic Front of the
Philippines (NDFP) revealed. The offensives took place in the northern
Philippine province of Isabela and the upland provinces of Misamis Oriental,
Surigao del Sur and Bukidnon in Mindanao. The ambushes, raids and other offensives
were carried out in the midst of government claims of the resumption of peace
talks between it and the NDFP in Oslo, Norway. They also happened in the thick
of intense counter-insurgency operations by military and police forces resulting
in the killing of civilians, it was learned. According to the NDFP, a group of NPA
guerrillas ambushed soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division at Sitio
(sub-village) Dugo-Dugo, Barangay (village) Pelaez in Claveria town, Misamis
Oriental last Sept. 26. Four of the soldiers were killed, Cesar
Renerio, spokesperson of NDFP-North Central Mindanao Region, said. At dawn the day earlier, an NPA team from
the Eking Balacuit Command destroyed the Philippine Army’s communications
facilities in Ginalaban, Salay same province. Two of the three antenna towers
were disabled, a separate statement said. Soldiers belonging to the 9th IB who were
guarding the communications facilities fired back. Their detachment was only 300
meters away from the towers. Meanwhile, detachments of the AFP-Cafgu
(Citizens Armed Force Geographical Units) in the towns of Cagwait and Marihatag,
both in Surigao del Sur were also attacked by the NPA Sept. 22. There were no
details. On Sept. 11, the NPA’s Apolonio Mendoza
Command (AMC) killed at least three troopers and wounded several others in an
ambush in Barangay San Pedro, Lopez, Quezon. The NPA has been waging an armed struggle
for 36 years. Philippine defense officials have admitted that the NPA has been
able to regain lost ground following ideological splits in the early 1990s and
remains the country’s top “security threat.” Bulatlat © 2005 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
In Barangay San Carlos, Echague, Isabela Sept. 24, the NPA raided the
camp of a platoon of Army troopers. Five of the soldiers were confirmed dead. An
M-60 machinegun and one M-14 rifle were seized, it was learned.