Philippine Military Shows Desperation In Latest Propaganda, Says NPA Rebels

Campaign against Ka Parago, a showcase of AFP Desperation.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has just made official its policy of adding another dimension to its counterrevolutionary war under the mantle of the Arroyo regime’s Enhanced National Internal Security Plan notoriously known as Oplan Bantay Laya II or OBL II. Shortly after Gen. Victor Ibrado hinted about “adding new parameters” to its “counter-insurgency” program —- citing the difficulties encountered in achieving its mid-2010 goals -- the AFP’s black propaganda machinery took off with its rehashed vilification campaign against leaders of the revolutionary movement.

The new dimension Gen. Ibrado was talking about, it came to pass, was directly concocted out of the latest showbiz scandal that has since pre-occupied the national mass media. Taking cue from his higher ups, Col. Daniel Lucero of the Philippine Army’s Civil Military Operations Group presented his own “sex scandal and corruption expose,” against Leoncio “Ka Parago” Pitao, Red commander of the NPA’s 1st Pulang Bagani Company in Southern Mindanao.

It is quite clear that the AFP has had utilized all imaginable combat, intelligence and special operations against units and leaders of the NPA. They have killed many leaders and members of militant and progressive organizations and continue to place an even larger number in the AFP Order of Battle. Thus, Col. Lucero’s cheap propaganda gimmick comes as no surprise as he merely rides on a crest of widespread public attention generated by the latest scandal to rock the Philippine entertainment scene.

For all intents and purposes, Col. Lucero’s “expose” is nothing but a lowest level type of an ill-conceived character assassination scheme. AFP psychological operation run alongside its murderous campaign of OBL-mandated extrajudicial killing that has victimized hundreds of activists, unarmed civilians and non-combatants that included Ka Parago’s daughter Rebelyn.

This latest smear campaign only succeeds in showcasing heights of desperation that has shaken the AFP as a result of the monumental failure of Oplan Bantay Laya 1 and 2.

Col. Lucero of the AFP top brass would be well-advised if they look into the endemic corruption that is a plague in the AFP organization. The Filipino people are convinced that a cabal of AFP generals is lording it over the AFP, siphoning public funds to their pockets as has been credibly revealed during the Oakwood Mutiny and the recent Western Mindanao Command corruption as disclosed by Navy Lt. SG Nancy Gadian, among others.

That Gloria Arroyo and her husband Mike Arroyo jointly command the biggest corruption syndicate in the country is no longer news to the people; it only further inflames the people’s rage and steels their resolve to oust the fake and hated president in conjunction with the armed revolutionary struggle. No amount of AFP black propaganda against the people’s army and its leaders could deter its steady advance.


Rigoberto F. Sanchez
Merardo Arce Command
Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command
New People’s Army

Video From Al Jazeera Television



The New People's Army has been fighting for a communist state in Philippines since 1968 in a campaign that has cost more than 40,000 lives. In the first of two special reports from the island of Luzon, Al Jazeera's Marga Ortigas finds out why the fighting has been going on for so long.

2 killed Maguindanao bombing

Soldiers inspect a site in the village of Kitanggo in Maguindanao's Datu Saudi Ampatuan town where an improvised explosive went off Monday, June 29, 2009 killing two persons and wounding eight others. The Army's 6th Infantry Division has blamed the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for the bombing, an accusation strongly denied by the rebel group. (Mindanao Examiner Photo by Mark Navales).

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 29, 2009) – Two people were killed on Monday and at least 8 others wounded in a bomb attack blamed by the military to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the restive Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao.

Colonel Jonathan Ponce, a regional army spokesman, said the powerful explosion occurred at around 6 a.m. near a market in Kitanggo village in town of Datu Saudi Ampatuan in Maguindanao province.

He said the explosion killed Malimpunok Nunokan, 65, and Tong Hadji Omal, 25.

“One of the dead was the courier of the bomb and a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s special operations group,” Ponce said without identifying the bomber.

It was unknown if the bombing was a suicide attack. Other reports said the improvised explosive was planted near a café.

Ponce the bomb was assembled from an 81mm mortar. “The series of IED bombings in central Mindanao are the handiwork of the special operations group of the MILF,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

No individual or group claimed responsibility for the blast, but the MILF denied it was behind the bombing and said soldiers planted the explosive as part of its campaign to discredit the rebel group.

“Villagers saw soldiers arrived in the area at dawn and there was an explosion several hours later,” Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader, told reporters.

The MILF, which is fighting the last three decades for self-determination in Mindanao, previously accused government soldiers as behind the spate of bombings and burning of houses in the province to discredit the rebel group. (Mindanao Examiner)

Military reports, propaganda lamang - MILF

COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / June 13 2009) – Binansagan na propaganda ng Moro Islamic Liberation Front ang ulat ng militar na 10 rebelde ang nasawi sa labanan sa magulong lalawigan ng Maguindanao sa Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Sinabi ni Eid Kabalu, isang senior MILF leader, na pawang mga palabas lamang ng military propagandists ang ulat at wala umano itong katotohanan.
"Every time the 6th Infantry Division comes out with a press release, you see MILF casualties in their reports. Even activities by criminals are blamed on the MILF. That's not psychological warfare, but propaganda to cover up for the military's human rights violations and its failure to defeat the MILF," ani Kabalu.

Idinagdag pa nito na walang maipakitang body counts o mga bangkay ang 6th Infantry Division sa bawat balitang ipinamumudmod nito sa media. Tinukoy pa ni Kabalu ang mansion ng isang pulitiko sa Maguindanao na illegal na kinupkop ng mga sundalo sa hinalang pagaari ito ni MILF commander Ameril Kato.

Sinabi ng 6th Infantry Division na 10 rebelde ang nasawi kamakailan sa labanan sa Maguindanao at nauna doon ay 30 rin ang inulat nitong napatay ng mga tropa. Ginagamit umano ng 6th Infantry Division ang media sa propaganda nito.

Sa kabila nito ay inanunsyo naman ni Pangulong Gloria Arroyo na bubuksan nitong muli ang naudlot na peace talks sa MILF. Bumagsak ang peace talks matapos na madiskaril ang Muslim homeland deal na nilagdaan ng peace panels sa Malaysia nuong Hulyo ng nakaraang taon.

Ngunit ayon naman sa ibang mga MILF commanders ay taktika lamang ni Arroyo ang pagbubukas sa peace talks upang makapagkampanya ang mga administration candidates sa ARMM at ibang bahagi ng Mindanao para sa halalan sa susunod na taon. (Mindanao Examiner)