DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 18, 2011) – The Philippine Army denied Sunday reports by communist rebels that they killed one soldier in an attack in Davao City in the southern Philippines.
Leoncio Pitao, commander of the New People’s Army, said the ambushed a team of government soldiers in the village called Paradise Embac in Paquibato district and killing an infantryman.
Lieutenant Colonel Lyndon Paniza, a spokesman for the 10th Infantry Division, said one soldier was slight wounded in the fighting. “One soldier was slightly grazed during a 5-minute firefight with the lawless armed group, New People’s Army and no one was killed,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.
Paniza branded claims by the rebels as “propaganda” and “incorrigible liars.”
“These NPAs are feeding wrong information to the media in their continuous act of lying and propaganda. We don’t have to hide anything nor feed wrong information.”
“Every soldier in our Division is fully accounted for and every casualty, be it killed or wounded in action, are given decent burial and utmost care, respectively. The members of lawless armed group, NPA, operating in Paquibato, are not only kidnappers but also incorrigible liars,” he said.
Paniza also took a shot on the human rights group Karapatan for failing to condemn the abduction of six mattress traders by the rebels.
“It is ironic that Karapatan is silent about the blatant violation of life and liberty of the six kidnap victims. Is their version of human rights selective?,” he asked.
He said the traders who came from Misamis Oriental province went missing on August 24 in Paquibato and is believed being held by rebels. “We are expecting that more disinformation will be spread by this lawless group just so that they can attract media attention,” Paniza said.
The rebels are fighting for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)
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