Philippine soldiers capture NPA rebel camp in Midnanao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 28, 2008) – Government troops captured a rebel encampment of the communist New People’s Army after a firefight that left one soldier wounded in the southern Philippines, officials said Friday.

Officials said the troops seized the camp in Mount Diwata in Compostela Valley’s Monkayo town late Thursday afternoon. The mountain is a known gold rush area in the province, a stronghold of NPA rebels in Mindanao Island.

An army commander said villagers allegedly tipped off the soldiers about the presence of the rebels. Troops assaulted the camp, sparking a firefight that wounded infantryman Larry Plana.

“This discovery of the NPA encampment was attributed to the locals who informed us of the presence of NPAs in their village,” said Maj.Rolando Rodil, commander of the 25th Infantry Battalion, who led the assault against the rebels.

Rodil said a still undetermined number of NPA gunmen were believed killed or wounded. “The NPAs believed to have suffered casualties as the troops seen scattered bloodstains in the said encampment and at their route of withdrawal,” he said.

He said troops also recovered about 40 meters of wire used for claymore mine, sacks of rice and canned goods, including tents and subversive documents.

“The rebels are believed to be members of the Sentro de Gravidad of Guerilla Front 25 of the Southern Mindanao Regional Committee. The encampment, which can accommodate 50 persons, is the improvised explosive manufacturing center of the NPA,” Rodil said.

Government forces are pursuing rebels holding a police officer and a Special Forces commander who were both captured by the NPA in separate attacks in Mindanao.

The rebels said Police Officer 3 Eduardo Tumol, a member of the 1105th Provincial Mobile Group and First Lieutenant Vicente Cammayo, commander of a Special Forces unit, are being investigated for possible human rights violations and other crimes committed against innocent civilians.

Tumol was arrested on Nov. 5 after stopping a police car at a checkpoint in the village of Baogo in Caraga town in Davao Oriental, while Cammayo had been captured Nov. 19 by rebel forces after a firefight in Monkayo town in Compostela Valley province.

The NPA, armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), is fighting the government the past four decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. Peace talks between Manila and the CPP-NPA collapsed in 2004 after both sides failed to sign an agreement ending hostilities in the countryside. (Mindanao Examiner)

Troops search for landslide survivors in southern Philippines

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 22, 2008) – Philippine troops were deployed on a remote mountain town in Mindanao to help in search and rescue operation after a landslide buried small houses, officials said Saturday.

At least 6 people have died from the landslide brought about by heavy rains since Thursday in Monkayo town in Compostela Valley province. Several people were also reported missing.

“Troops are in the area and helping in the search for survivors,” said Lt. Col. Kurt Decapia, a spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division. “Lt. Col. Manny Sequitin, commander of the 66th Infantry Battalion, is leading the search in Monkayo town.”

Among those killed in the tragedy were children. Villagers were also helping soldiers in the search for survivors. It was unknown how many people were missing, but many are still unaccounted in the area worst hit by the landslide.

In September, eight people were killed in a landslide that buried houses on another mountain enclave called Maco in Compostela Valley.

Army soldiers were also sent to the town to help rescuers search for survivors after heavy rains loosened boulders and mud that buried at least two dozen houses in the village of Masara.

Like Monkayo town, Maco is a known gold-rush area in the province, where small scale miners, put up thatched houses from near where they are digging for gold.

Authorities have previously banned miners from putting up houses and structures on mountain slopes because of the dangers posed by mudslides. Squatters have mushroomed in the area over the years despite similar incidents in the past. Ten people were also killed by landslide last year in the area. (Mindanao Examiner)

Troops exhume remains of rebel killed in clash in Mindanao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 19, 2008) – Philippine soldiers exhumed Wednesday the remains of a communist rebel who was killed in a clash with government forces in Mindanao.

Army officials said the slain rebel, Arnel Visagas, was among those who were killed in the fighting in Casoon village in Compostela Valley’s Monkayo town on November 7 and troops are still searching for the other graves.

Lt. Kurt Decapia, public affairs chief of the 10th Infantry Division, said Visagas’ family sought the help of the military to find the remains of the rebel so they can give it a proper burial. “Arnel Visagas was a member of Sentro de Gravidad, Guerilla Front 3 and his cadaver was exhumed in the presence of his parents,” he said.

He said Visagas joined the New People’s Army (NPA) in 1996 when he was 20 years old. “Field reports revealed that there were other NPA members who were hastily buried like Arnel Visagas,” Decapia said.

Visagas’ group is holding 1st Lieutenant Vicente Cammayo as prisoner of war after his unit clashed with rebels. Two soldiers and government militia was also killed in the fighting, Decapia said.

“The (army) Command will pursue its offensive without let-up (against the NPA) and will eventually rescue Lt. Cammayo,” he said.

Rigoberto Sanchez, a rebel spokesman, said Cammayo, commander of the Special Forces unit, is being interrogated by the NPA’s Alejandro Lanaja Command, for possible human rights violations and other crimes related to operations of the Special Forces in Mindanao.

He said Cammayo's rights as prisoner of war are being respected by rebels, but warned that any rescue attempt would put the officer’s life in peril. “The only cause of POW Cammayo's safety being imperiled emanates from the 10th Infantry Division's futile attempt to mount a rescue operation,” he said.

Aris Francisco, spokesman of the NPA's Alejandro Lanaja Command, accused the 3rd Special Forces Battalion to which Cammayo's unit belongs, as responsible for the series of violations to human rights, protocols of war and international humanitarian law in Compostela Valley province.

Francisco said the Special Forces masterminded the June bombing in Nabunturan town that wounded several innocent civilians. "The bombing was a desperate and fascist attack in response to the sparrow operations of the NPA which killed two of their soldiers at that time," he said.

The NPA also tagged Special Forces members as behind the brutal murder in June of a peasant leader Noli Llanos in Nabunturan's Mipangi village, where rebels killed three government soldiers; and also the killing of farmer Diego Encarnacion in the village of Linda in Nabunturan town in July. Both farmers were accused by the military as NPA supporters.

The NPA, armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines, is fighting the government the past four decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. The military denied all accusations against the. (Mindanao Examiner)

NPA rebel, militia killed in new clashes in Southern Philippines

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 11, 2008) – Government soldiers killed a communist rebel in a clashed in Compostela Valley province in the southern Philippines, an army spokesman said Tuesday.

The fighting, which broke out in the town of Laak on Monday afternoon, also left one government militia dead, said Lt. Col. Kurt Decapia, Public Affairs Chief of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.

He said the fighting erupted after patrolling troops spotted a group of New People’s Army rebels in the village of New Bethlehem. He said troops also recovered a B40 anti-tank rocket and three automatic rifles from fleeing rebels.

“It is believed that the rebel group suffered heavy casualties as indicated by the bloodstains along the enemy’s route of withdrawal,” Decapia said.

Army Maj. Gen. Jogy Leo Fojas, division commander, said the offensive against the NPA will not stop until the rebel group is neutralized. “Our troops will not get tired of running after the NPA bandits,” he said.

The NPA is believed to be holding 1Lt. Vicente Camayo, a member of the 3rd Special Forces Battalion, who went missing after a fierce firefight in Compostela Valley’s Monkayo town on Friday that left two army soldiers and a government militia dead.

“We will never stop until we get hold of Camayo and return him to his loved ones,” Fojas said.

The NPA did not say whether it has captured Camayo or nor, but a rebel spokesman, Aris Francisco, confirmed that his group clashed with the military and that they were able to seize an M60 machine gun and two M16 and one M14 automatic rifles from the fighting in Monkayo town.

“The NPA tactical offensive serves as a punitive action against the 3rd Special Forces Battalion, who had been responsible for the series of violations to human rights, protocols of war and international humanitarian law in Compostela Valley,” he said.

Francisco also accused the Special Forces of masterminding the June bombing in Nabunturan town that wounded several civilians. “The bombing was a desperate and fascist attack in response to the sparrow operations of the NPA which killed two of their soldiers at that time,” he said.

The NPA tagged Special Forces members as behind the brutal murder in June of a peasant leader Noli Llanos in Nabunturan’s Mipangi village, where rebels killed three government soldiers; and also the killing of farmer Diego Encarnacion in the village of Linda in Nabunturan town in July. Both farmers were accused by the military as NPA supporters.

The NPA, armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines, is fighting the government the past four decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)

2 Soldiers Killed In NPA Clashes In Mindanao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 8, 2008) – Two government soldiers were killed and an officer was missing after a fierce firefight with communist rebels in the southern Philippines, an army spokesman said Saturday.

Lt. Col. Kurt Decapia, of the 10th Infantry Division, said one government militia was also slain in Friday clashes in the town of Monkayo in Compostela Valley province.

“As of this report, two soldiers and one militia were killed-in-action while one officer is still to be accounted. Said personnel are members of the 3rd Special Forces Battalion,” Decapia said.

He said the fighting broke out after troops raided an encampment of the New People’s Army (NPA). The soldiers, he said, succeeded in capturing the rebel camp.

“The said encounter resulted to the recovery of an enemy encampment and various subversive materials and documents,” he said, adding, the fighting lasted more than six hours.

Decapia said government forces were sent to pursue NPA rebels who escaped the fighting. The NPA is fighting the government for decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)

Army Captures Rebel Camp In Southern Philippines

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 20, 2008) – Army special forces have occupied a training base of communist rebels after an intense firefight in the southern Philippines, officials said Monday.

Officials said the weekend fighting in the hinterland village of Casoon in Compostela Valley’s Monkayo town left a still undetermined number of New People’s Army rebels either killed or wounded. There were no reports of military casualties, said Lt. Col. Roland Bautista, a spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.

Bautista said troops, backed by military aircrafts, clashed with the rebels until they fled and abandoned the camp, which could house at least 100 people. He said troops discovered 20 foxholes and observation posts inside the camp.

“Government forces have occupied the NPA base which is being used as training ground for new recruits of the sparrow unit,” Bautista told the Mindanao Examiner.

Sparrow unit refers to the NPA hit squad, blamed for the assassinations of policemen and soldiers in the country.

The NPA, armed wing of the underground Communist Party of the Philippines, is fighting for almost four decades now to overthrow the democratic government and install a Maoist state in the Philippines.

The United States and the European Union blacklisted the CPP and NPA, including its political wing, the National Democratic Front, on Manila's prodding and froze their assets abroad.

Peace talks between rebels and the government collapsed in 2004 after the CPP-NPA-NDF pulled out from the negotiations because of their inclusion on the terror lists of the United States and the European Union.

The rebels demanded that President Gloria Arroyo asks the US and EU to strike them off from the terror lists before they resume peace talks. Manila rejected the demand and suspended safety and immunity guarantee for rebel peace negotiators.

Mrs. Arroyo has ordered the military to crush the communist insurgency in two years and set aside an additional budget of P1 billion for the Armed Forces of the Philippines for this purpose.

But in May this year, government emissaries secretly held talks with rebel leaders in Norway in an effort to revive the peace talks, but they failed. The rebels demanded that the Arroyo government complies with agreements it previously signed with them.

The rebels presented 13 impediments that must be overcome before formal peace talks could resume and among these were the terrorist tag by the United States and the European Union of the CPP and its founder Prof. Jose Maria Sison, the NPA; the illegal “suspension” of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG).

And for the suspension of the military’s anti-insurgency campaign dubbed as Oplan: Bantay Laya and the consequent gross and systematic violations of human rights; the persecution, murder, arrest and enforced disappearance of NDF consultants; the demand for capitulation of the NDF to the Filipino Government in the guise of prolonged ceasefire before addressing the fundamental problems of Philippine society and the roots of the armed conflict; and the failure to indemnify the victims of human rights violations under the Marcos regime.

Sison, who is living in exile in The Netherlands since 1987, founded the CPP-NPA in 1968. He was arrested early this year by the Dutch police on charges of masterminding the killings of two former rebel leaders Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara, but had been subsequently freed. (Mindanao Examiner)

Rebels Free 3 Hostages In Mindanao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 6, 2008) – Communist rebels freed two policemen they abducted in the southern Philippines after their families appealed for their safe release, officials said Saturday.

Officials said the New People’s Army released the two policemen in Compostela Valley province in Mindanao. A third hostage, Habilio Delos Reyes, a civilian who had been mistaken as a police officer, was also freed unharmed by the rebels.

The three were freed to government officials in the town of Monkayo led by Vice Mayor Avelino Cabag and Rep. Manuel Zamora. Cabag said the freed hostages were being debriefed and appeared to be in good health.

The NPA seized the police officers at a rebel checkpoint in the village of Ongoyon in Mount Diwata. Authorities earlier identified the abducted officers as Jerry Realino and Hector Colaste.

Another policeman, Rogelio Etrata, who was also taken hostage, had been recovered earlier by security forces pursuing the rebels.

The three officers were assigned to guard the village where several gold mining firms are operating. Insurgents had in the past launch attacks on mining companies in the province. In July, insurgents raided a field office of the Philco Mining Corporation in the village of Camanlangan in New Bataan town also in Compostela Valley.

The NPA is the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front, which broke off peace talks with the Arroyo government in 2004 after accusing Manila of reneging on a deal that would have freed hundreds of political detainees in the country. (Romy Bwaga)

Truck Plunges Into Mindanao Ravine, 15 Killed

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / August 15, 2008) – Fifteen people had been reported killed and more than a dozen others injured Friday after the truck they riding fell into a ravine in Compostela Valley province in the southern Philippines, reports said.

Police said the accident occurred near Monkayo town after the truck lost its brake and plunged deep into the ravine. It was not immediately known if there were women and children among those killed and injured.

The area is known to be prone to accident because of poor road condition. Many of the victims were hitchhikers and small town miners in Monkayo town, a known gold-rush area in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)

Robbers Get Away With Gold In Compostela Valley

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 17, 2008) – Robbers carted away close to half a million pesos worth of gold and equipment from a mining firm in the southern Philippine province of Compostela Valley, police said Thursday.

Police said the robbers destroyed a security fence of the Bullex Mining Corporation in Monkayo town on Wednesday and ransacked one tunnel containing gold and equipment used in the mining. (Romy Bwaga)

Rebels Seized Two Soldiers; Military Mounts Rescue Operation In Mindanao

Government troops onboard a military truck passes through a village in the southern Philippine province of Sulu on Saturday, April 26, 2008. The military mounted a massive rescue mission to free two army soldiers seized Friday by New People’s Army rebels in the province of Compostela Valley in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 2, 2008) – Philippines soldiers mounted a massive operation Saturday to free two infantrymen seized by communist insurgents in Compostela Valley province in Mindanao, officials said.

Officials said the duo, both army sergeants, was seized Friday in the village of Ulip in Monkayo town. Their fate remains unknown, but more troops were sent to track down the New People’s Army rebels and rescue the soldiers.

“There will be no negotiation and we have sent more troops to rescue the two abducted soldiers,” Maj. Raymundo Aguada, spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, told The Mindanao Examiner.

He said the two soldiers Huberto Corbita and Napoleon Jerasmeo were onboard a vehicle on their way to the town when stopped by rebels at a road block. “The action of the NPA is a desperate attempt to pressure us to divert ongoing military operations in the province,” he said.

Two duo, Aguada said, were on an administrative duty and both unarmed. “The soldiers were attending to their administrative requirements during the time of incident. Because of the soldier’s incapability to defend themselves, the NPA took advantage of this and seized them,” he said.

Last year, communist rebels also seized an army soldier Sgt. Raul Reyes in Compostela Valley and freed him three weeks later on humanitarian grounds after his family appealed to rebels to spare his life.

Reyes was seized with two other militiamen Glorieto Mahumas and Rudy Villaflor, also a village chieftain, in October 7 after NPA forces raided a government post in the village of Canidkid in Montevista town. Mahumas and Villaflor later escaped from their captors.

The NPA said it seized the soldier after villagers complained that military units deployed in the town had been notorious in committing human rights abuses and violations. The rebels previously said the three would be tried for crimes committed against civilians. They had in the past kidnapped military generals and officers, but also freed them to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The rebels, armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front, are fighting the Filipino government for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)

Politician Linked To Murder Of 2 Farmers In Southern Philippines

COMPOSTELA VALLEY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 01 Sept) – Communist insurgents on Saturday accused a politician as behind the murder of two farmers in Compostela Valley’s Monkayo town in southern Philippines.

Authorities initially blamed the New People’s Army for the killings of the farmers late last month.

Aries Francisco, of the NPA’s Alejandro Lanaja Command, strongly denied the accusation and pointed to a politician as the alleged mastermind in the killings of the two farmers.

Both victims were opposed to the expansion of palm oil plantation that will affect many rice farmers in the province. It was unknown if the killings were connected to their cause.

The August 23 killings came barely two weeks after insurgents raided a hideout of suspected gunmen working for politicians and seized automatic rifles.

The NPA is fighting the past decades for a separate Maoist state in the Philippines and had broken off peace negotiations with Manila after accusing the Arroyo government as behind its inclusion in the terror lists of the United States and the European Union. (Mindanao Examiner)

Missing Soldier Now In Rebel Hands In Southern Philippines

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 13 Aug) – Philippine communist rebels on Monday said they are holding a government soldier captured during a firefight in the southern province of Compostela Valley.

The soldier, Private First Class Marjun Gatela, was reported missing by the Philippine Army on August 10 in the town of Monkayo after New People’s Army rebels attacked a government patrol in the village of San Isidro.

Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres, the Philippine Army spokesman, said the soldier was reported missing. "He is missing-in-action. He could have strayed away from his group or taken hostage by the NPA," Torres said Monday.

Aries Francisco, of the NPA’s Alejandro Lanaja Command, admitted holding the soldier and said they would soon free the “prisoner of war” to his family after a rebel court found no evidence linking him to military atrocities.

Gatela is a member of the 72nd Infantry Battalion. Aside from the soldier, a government militia was also reported missing, but the NPA did not say if it is also holding him hostage or whether he was killed or not.

“His actions against the revolutionary movement and the people were merely a result of his being an element of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Not being an officer of his unit, POW Pfc. Gatela cannot be held liable for the crimes against the people and the human rights violations committed by the 72nd IB-AFP.”

“As such, the NPA's higher command has approved for Gatela's immediate release as an exercise of the revolutionary political authority by the People's Democratic Government,” Francisco said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

He said the early and safe release of the soldier would depend on the security situation in the province.

Security officials said troops were sent to pursue the rebels holding the hostage.

“Subject to the actual conditions and security implications in the field, POW Pfc. Gatela will be released to his wife and family. The ALC-NPA shall assess the military and police movement that might hamper the safe and orderly release of Gatela,” Fransisco said.

He said the soldier was not harmed and is being treated well by rebels.

“The NPA strictly observes the rights of Gatela, in accordance to his status as a Prisoner of War under the war protocols, GRP-NDFP (Government of Republic of the Philippines-National Democratic Front of the Philippines) Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law and the 1996 NDFP Unilateral Declaration of Undertaking to Apply the Provisions of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and Protocol 1 of 1977.”

“This is in stark contrast to the AFP's practice of using torture, intimidation, physical, psychological and sexual abuse and killings towards its captives and political detainees,” he said.

The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which has been fighting for a separate Maoist state in the largely Catholic country. The rebels pulled out from the peace talks with the Arroyo government in 2004 after the United States listed the CPP-NDFP and NPA as foreign terrorist organizations on Manila’s prodding. (Juan Magtanggol)

Monkayo Remains Compostella's Vote-Rich Town

COMPOSTELA VALLEY – The Commission on Elections said Monkayo is the most votes-rich town in Compostela Valley with 45,097 registered voters, accounting about 14.2% of the province’s 318,150 voters.

Monkayo is known to be a gold-rush area in southern Philippines, where tens of thousands of people are dependent on small-scale mining.

It said Maco is next with 36,352 voters and followed by the town of Nabunturan with 34,296 registrants and Compostela, 32,594; Pantukan, 31,839; Laak, 29,400; Maragusan, 27,847; New Bataan, 23,348; Montevista, 20,713; Mawab, 18,808 and Mabini town with 178,856 voters.

Compostela’s District 2 area has 168,551 voters. It accounted 53 percent of the total voters in the province, while District 1 has 149,599 voters.

COMELEC’s Aileen Llanos said the figures would still have to be validated again to ensure there are no double registrants. She they would submit the final data next week to the COMELEC regional office.

In separate COMELEC records, the province has a total of 322 candidates aspiring for 122 various elective positions consisting of 12 provincial and 110 municipal posts.

Of all candidates, only the incumbent Nabunturan town Vice Mayor Romeo Clarin is said to be running unopposed. While three-term Mabini town Mayor Reynaldo Dayanghirang has opted to run as vice mayor to incumbent Vice Mayor Raul Nadela, now seeking the mayoralty position.

Laak town Mayor Rogelio Arambala is also running for the provincial board.

Provincial and municipal candidates are mostly running in two-cornered fights drawn up the same but warring administration parties of Kampi and Lakas-CMD.

The towns of New Bataan and Mabini will have stiff three-cornered and four-cornered fights, respectively, although Maco has three mayoral bets. (Cha Monforte)