CAGAYAN DE CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 1, 2010) – Armed tribesmen clashed with communist rebels in the southern Philippines leaving one person dead, the military said on Monday.
It said the fighting broke out in Agusan del Sur’s Esperanza town after rebels attacked tribesmen in the village of Kinamaybay. The weekend clash also left a still undetermined number of New People’s Army rebels.
The motive of the attack was unknown, but the military said the rebels were harassing the natives in the past. The tribesmen were known to actively support the government’s anti-insurgency campaign in the province.
The rebels have previously accused the military of arming tribesmen to fight the NPA, an allegation denied by security officials. The NPA is fighting for decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (With a report from Merlyn Manos)
Monday, November 01, 2010
NPA rebels kill Mindanao tribesman
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
5 soldiers killed in NPA attack in Southern Philippines
Officials said one soldier was also wounded in the fighting that erupted in the village of Fortuna in Agusan del Sur's Veruela town. The clash broke out after dozens of New People’s Army rebels attacked a military detachment.
The fighting lasted several minutes and only stopped after rebels retreated to the hills. It was not immediately known whether any of the attackers were wounded or killed in the clash.
“There is an operation going on aimed at tracking down the rebels in the province,” said Lieutenant Colonel Triumph Dominic Bagaipo, a spokesman for the Army’s 4th Infantry Division.
There New People’s Army, armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, is fighting for decades now for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (With reports from Merlyn Manos and Becky de Asis)
Saturday, April 03, 2010
NPA, nadakip sa Agusan Sur
Sinabi kahapon ng militar na naganap ang labanan kamakalawa sa Bayugan City matapos na matiyempuhan ng mga tropa ang 3 armado. Nabatid na sugatan ang nadakip na rebelde kung kaya’t inilikas pa ito sa isang pagamutan.
Walang inulat na sugatan o nasawi sa panig ng militar at kinilala naman ng Philippine Army ang sugatang NPA na si Jomar Mayordomo, 19. Nasa patrulya umano ang mga sundalo sa Barangay Calaitan ng masalubong ang mga rebelde at agad nagkaroon ng labanan.
Nakatakas naman ang kasamahan ni Mayordomo. Hindi naman mabatid kung ano ang ginagawa ng tatlo sa naturang barangay.
Ang NPA ay ang armed wing ng Communist Party of the Philippines na nakikibaka para sa sariling estado sa bansa. (Merlyn Manos)
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
NPA rebels torch irrigation equipment in South RP
DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 24, 2010) – Communist rebels torched construction equipment used in government irrigation projects in an attack in the southern Filipino province of Agusan del Sur, officials said.
Officials blamed the New People’s Army for the attack which occurred late Tuesday in the village of Angas in Santa Josefa town.
“It is another case of arson perpetrated by the communist rebel group New People’s Army to extort money from uncooperative construction companies in the area. More than three million pesos worth of construction equipment used in the irrigation project undertaken by the National Irrigation Administration was destroyed.”
“This happened even if the project was meant to alleviate the plight of the farmers in the area who are reeling from the effects of the El Nino phenomenon,” said Colonel Daniel Lucero, Assistant Chief of Staff for Civil-Military Operations of the Philippine Army.
Quoting military reports, Lucero said the attackers were led by an NPA leader identified only as Ka Jamal, of the Southern Mindanao Regional Committee. He said the rebels briefly held Rene Amoy, who works for the MarkBuilt Construction Company, and torched the equipment before fleeing to the hills.
“In some areas where the NPA still operates, it is expected that renewed extortion activities will be imposed against companies unwilling to cooperate in the payment of NPA extortion money,” Lucero said. “Rest assured that the Armed Forces of the Philippines will do its duty to safeguard the industries and the people who run them in order to operate their businesses.”
He said the NPA have also resorted in collecting monies from politicians in exchange for a safe passage in areas where rebels are actively operating.
The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines which is fighting for decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
CAFGU militia, sabit sa pamamaril sa Mindanao
ILIGAN CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 9, 2010) – Isang malawak na manhunt ang isinasagawa ng mga awtoridad matapos na mamaril ang isang government militia na ikinasugat ng apat na katao sa Agusan del Norte province.
Sinabi ng pulisya na pinaghahanap nito ang dalawang suspek – isa sa kanila ay miyembro diumano ng CAFGU - matapos na paulanan ng bala ang mga biktima sa Poblacion ng bayan ng Santiago nuong nakaraang linggo.
Hindi malinaw ang motibo ng krimen at inaalam ng pulisya kung may kinalaman ba sa hanap-buhay o away-pamilya ang pinagmulan ng pamamaril.
Inaalam naman ng pulisya kung tunay na CAFGU ang isang suspek, ngunit hindi naman makunan ng pahayag ang Philippine Army sa naturang lalawigan ukol sa pagkakasangkot ng isang militiaman sa krimen.
Naganap ang atake sa kabila ng gun ban na pinaiiral ng Commission on Elections dahil sa nalalapit na halalan. Ngunit exempted naman ang mga CAFGU sa gun ban, ngunit tiyak na sabit ang army battalion na siyang may control sa suspek dahil sa naganap. (May karagdagan ulat si Merlyn Manos)
Friday, December 11, 2009
Philippine tribesmen free 3 more hostages; hold 54 more
ILIGAN CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / December 11, 2009) – Armed tribesmen who are holding dozens of civilians in the southern Philippines have freed 12 more hostages as negotiations to free the remaining captives continue Friday, police said.
Police said the three hostages were released at around 10.30 a.m. and this was followed by 9 more in the village of San Martin in Agusan del Sur’s Prosperidad town where gunmen are still holding 45 civilians since Thursday.
A provincial social worker who is negotiating for the release of the hostages, Josefina Bahadi, said she is still convincing the gunmen to free the other captives. “We are still negotiating with them and we hope they would safely free all the hostages,” she said.
Police said more than a dozen armed are guarding the hostages who are being held in three thatched houses in the village where security forces have surrounded them.
“Negotiations are going on for the safe release of the remaining hostages,” a regional police chief Lino Calingasan said.
He said the gunmen, led by Ondo Perez, on Thursday freed 18 mostly school children. Most of the gang members are facing a string of criminal charges. They originally held 125 people, but 50 of them managed to escape and inform police about the incident.
Perez also demanded the arrest of another tribe leader Jun Tubay whom he accused as behind the killings of his sisters and relatives last year. Both families are locked in a bitter clan war that had killed about a dozen people from both sides.
Perez said they took the hostages to shield them from being arrested by the police and demanded authorities to drop all charges against them in exchange for the safe release of the captives.Police flatly rejected the demands and said they have warrants for their arrest in connection to the murder of Tubay’s relatives. (Mindanao Examiner)
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Philippine gunmen seize dozens of civilians
ILIGAN CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / December 10, 2009) – Philippine gunmen abducted Thursday dozens of civilians in the southern province of Agusan del Sur, an army spokesman said.
Police forces, backed by army soldiers, were sent to the town of Prosperidad to rescue at least 65 villagers, including two private foresters and a teacher, being held captive by gunmen, said Major Michelle Anayron, a spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division.
“We still don’t the motives of the abduction, but police and military forces were sent to the area to track down the gunmen,” Anayron told the independent newspaper, the Mindanao Examiner.
He said the gunmen seized the victims at around 6 a.m. in the village of San Martin for a still unknown.
But police said the gunmen, numbering 15, seized 75 people and freed 18 of the hostages, mostly school children, after a series of government negotiations.
“The abductors have freed 17 school children and an adult, and negotiations are still continuing for the safe release of the other hostages,” said Chief Superintendent Lino Calingasan, the regional police chief.
No group claimed responsibility for the mass abductions, but the army spokesman said initial reports have pointed to the Perez group, blamed for many criminalities in the town, as behind the attack.
Tribesmen also seized seven government forest rangers in October in Agusan del Norte province and demanded the government to return their ancestral lands and to cancel all forest agreements with commercial loggers in areas where there are presence of indigenous tribes.
The victims, all employees of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, were freed in the town of Sibagat in Agusan del Sur province after the government cancelled several forestry agreements with commercial logging firms.
It was unknown whether the latest abductions were connected to illegal logging activities.
Both provinces are a known lair of illegal loggers and a stronghold of New People’s Army rebels. Illegal logging activities in the provinces continue unabatedly and are threatening water shed areas.
Last year, some 500 leaders of indigenous tribes and representatives of nongovernmental organizations and the Catholic Church appealed to Manila to put an end to illegal logging and destructive mining in the province and other areas in the Caraga region considered as ancestral domain. (Mindanao Examiner)
Thursday, July 02, 2009
NPA rebels admit raid at Mindanao police station
The New People’s Army said its fighters from the 4th Pulang Bagani Command seized four automatic rifles and pistols, including ammunition in the Wednesday raid in Santa Josefa town in Agusan del Sur province.
It said no policemen were killed in the raid that lasted only 10 minutes.
“Not a single shot was fired as the Philippine National Police municipal station was quickly neutralized. Once again, this tactical offensive shows that the NPA’s sole target is the firearms that would further strengthen the revolutionary fighters.”
“Nobody from the enemy’s side would become casualties if they will not resist NPA offensives; this is because the NPA adheres to the International Humanitarian Law concerning hors de combat,” a rebel spokesman, Ka Nadem, said in a statement.
Hors de Combat is a French term which literally means "out of the fight." It is term used in diplomacy and international law to refer to soldiers who are incapable of performing their military function.
The rebel spokesman said: “The raid was part of a tactical offensive serves as a punishment against the armed forces of the vicious and corrupt Arroyo government, which is now preparing to remain in power via the Constitutional Assembly.”
Ka Nadem was referring to moves by Arroyo’s allies in Congress to amend the Constitution and eventually prolong her into power. Arroyo is to step down next year.
The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines which is fighting the past four decades to overthrow the government and install a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)
Monday, June 29, 2009
Broadcaster shot dead in Southern Philippines
AGUSAN DEL SUR, Philippines - A radio broadcaster was shot dead by an unknown gunman in Agusan del Sur province, police said Monday.
Jonathan Petalvero, the 43-year-old host of a news commentary program on dxFM station in Bayugan town, was attacked by a gunman riding a motorcycle along a road here late Saturday, Bayugan police officer Johnny Orlanez said.
The motive for the attack was unclear, although residents said the victim had planned to run for public office in the municipal council in the May 2010 general elections.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists earlier this year said the Philippines was among several countries where media workers were murdered with impunity. (ABS-CBN / AFP)
Link: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/06/29/09/broadcaster-shot-dead-agusan-del-sur-govt
Thursday, May 21, 2009
10 NPA rebels killed in Mindanao clash
Officials said the fighting erupted after soldiers caught up with New People’s Army rebels extorting money from civilians in the village of Cabantao in Rosario town.
“Ten rebels were killed in the fighting and the operation against the NPA is gong on,” Lt. Rudy Esico, of the Army’s 36th Infantry Battalion, told the Mindanao Examiner by phone from a command post in the province.
He said villagers tipped off the military about the presence of rebels in the area.
Esico said soldiers also recovered weapons and improvised explosives left behind by retreating rebels. He said two attack helicopters were pursuing the NPA forces in the hinterlands. There were no reports of military casualties.
“The rebels were also behind the raid on a mining area last month in the town,” he said.
Last week, government soldiers also killed two NPA rebels in a firefight in the southern Philippine city of Digos.
The military vowed to step up offensive against the rebels who are fighting the past decades to put up a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)
Thursday, September 27, 2007
3 Soldiers Killed In Clash In Southern Philippines: NPA
Nestor dela Cruz said the fighting erupted in Loreto town in Agusan del Sur province after New People’s Army rebels attacked an army unit. “Two other government soldiers were wounded in the fighting,” Dela Cruz said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
He said there were no NPA casualties.
The Army’s 4th Infantry Division did not give any statement about the fighting and officials ignored telephone calls from journalists.
Other reports said five rebels were allegedly killed in the clash, but this could not be independently confirmed.
Rebel forces on Sunday also raided a police base in Surigao del Sur’s Cantillan town and took away assorted weapons after disarming policemen.
NPA rebels also stormed last week a veneer factory in Compostela Valley province and killed one militiaman. The rebels, from the NPA's Armando Dumandan Command, carted four automatic rifles and a handgun from militias guarding the Li Chiang Veneer Plant in Montevista town.
The NPA branded the firm as “despotic” and accused it of actively supporting the military operations against innocent farmers in the town, said Marcella Valiente, of the Armando Dumandan Command.
The Philippine government opened peace talks with the rebels, but the negotiations collapsed in 2004 after the United States listed the CPP and the NPA and its political arm, the National Democratic Front, as foreign terrorist organization on Manila’s prodding. (Mindanao Examiner)