Army finishes peace, development projects in Mindanao; rebels howl propaganda

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / January 12, 2010) – The Philippine Army on Tuesday said it finished more than P76 million worth of peace and development projects in Mindanao, but communist rebels branded them as propaganda and part of Manila's anti-insurgency campaign.

The 10th Infantry Division said a total of 59 projects were completed by soldiers under the so-called Kalayaan sa Barangay Program in Davao region last year. It said soldiers finished many 16 farm-to-market roads, 13 school buildings, 13 rural electrification projects and 14 water systems, including 3 day care centers.

“Elements of 10th Infantry Division together with the Army Engineer Battalions and different support units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines spearheaded the implementation of these projects in coordination and support of local government units, non-government and people’s organizations and other stakeholders, particularly the civilians,” said Captain Emmanuel Garcia, an army spokesman.

He said Compostela Valley province, a known stronghold of communist rebels, has the most number of development projects, followed by Davao del Norte province.

Major General Carlos Holganza, commander of the 10th Infantry Division, said the overwhelming support of the citizens to the government’s peace and development efforts played a crucial role in the completion of the projects. “This is a proof of the sincerity of the government to bring much needed infrastructures for our people in the countryside,” Holganza said.

He also lauded the soldiers for their hard work and dedication to the peace efforts in Mindanao.

“Our soldiers deserve our admiration as they tirelessly carried on their tasks in implementing the KBP projects in the countryside where continued threats of saboteurs are present. The local government units, line government agencies, the local residents and other stakeholders also deserve our praise for their inspiring support. They are the true heroes in these endeavors,” Holganza said.

The KBP projects are infrastructures being implemented nationwide by the Armed Forces of the Philippines through funds coming from the Department of National Defense. It is line with the government’s peace and development initiative focused on national priority areas where the presence of threats to national development is strongly felt.

Communist rebels have recently accused the military of embarking on a massive propaganda in Mindanao aimed at targeting the New People’s Army and leftist organizations as part of the government’s anti-insurgency campaign.

The NPA branded as propaganda the Philippine Army’s ACEs or Army's Concern for the Environment, Army's Concern for Engineering, Army's Combat Excellence and Advocacy for Credible Elections.

“The fascist Philippine Army's recently pronounced four ACEs is only a preliminary propaganda purveyed by its chief, the notorious Lieutenant General Delfin Bangit,” said Rubi del Mundo, a rebel spokesman.

“The Philippine Army's Concern for Engineering means it will intensify its ‘winning the hearts and minds campaign’ through hard projects or road construction in areas where both United States and the Philippine Government have economic interests and where revolutionary movements such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front are strong. These projects are part of its psychological war tactics in counter-insurgency operations and belie the sincerity of the Philippine government in delivering social services, which should otherwise be carried out by civilian institutions of government,” Del Mundo said.

The NPA has been fighting for decades now for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. Peace talks between rebels and the government failed in 2004 after the NPA accused President Gloria Arroyo of reneging on several agreements, among them the release of all political prisoners and to put a stop to extrajudicial killings of activists in the Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)

NPA Rebels Write Open Letter To POWs Families

OPEN LETTER TO MRS. MARIEL CAMMAYO AND MRS. MA. LUISA TUMOL

(wives of POW 1st Lt. Vicente P. Cammayo of the Special Forces Battalion-AFP and POW P03 Eduardo Tumol of the Police Mobile Group-PNP)

7 December 2008

Dear Mrs. Cammayo and Mrs. Tumol,

Warm revolutionary greetings.

I understand the anguish that you are now going through. It has never been the practice of the New People's Army to deliberately cause suffering on civilians. To this, we commiserate with you.

The only comfort that I can give you is to reiterate the assurance that we are taking good care of your husbands. We have gone beyond what is required by the Geneva Conventions as lenient treatment for soldiers who surrender and are taken as Prisoners of War. Certainly, the hospitality that we can offer is very basic and unlike the comfort that your husbands have been used to. But they eat more than what we eat. They sleep more comfortably than we do. They have not been subjected to any kind of physical or psychological torture. Most of all, their safety, security and welfare are our primary concern.

Mrs. Cammayo -- we have tried to reinforce this assurance through the video clip we sent through the media to show you that your husband is healthy and unharmed. In your present condition, you are very vulnerable. It would not be good for you to be unduly stressed. Your husband is also very concerned for you. However, he also understands that your first priority right now is to take care of your unborn child.

As your husbands are declared prisoners of war, this will give you comfort that they are treated well, and their rights are protected as POWs under the international humanitarian law (IHL). Thus, I would like to assure you along with the revolutionary forces that there is no cause for alarm.

POW 1Lt. Vicente P. Cammayo, commander of the 11th Company of the 3rd Special Forces Battalion-AFP and POW PO3 Eduardo Cruzada Tumol of the police's 1105th Provincial Mobile Group are currently under investigation for possible violations of human rights and international humanitarian law that they may have committed in the course of implementing the US-Arroyo regime's counter-revolutionary Operation Plan Bantay Laya II.

As your husbands are ranking officers and men, they are directly responsible for orders that have resulted in hurting many innocent civilians in the areas where they have been deployed. The Revolutionary Court conducts investigations as expeditiously as possible. At the same time, we take our investigations seriously and thorough. The results of these investigations will be made public. Upon the capture of your husbands, the legal and judicial process of the revolutionary government has commenced. A couple of weeks will not be enough time to accomplish this, more so under condition of fierce military operations.

Many military officials, especially those who have never experienced and can only speak about the suffering that your husbands have undergone in the battlefield, will try to demean this process. "Kangaroo court" is what they derisively call our Revolutionary Court. But years and years of building the People's Democratic Government and revolutionary justice served and implemented, the people can only turn to the Revolutionary Government as their only true source of justice.

The viciously fascist Arroyo regime that has prized Gen. Jovito Palparan and Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr have victimized millions of peasants, workers, journalists, lawyers, students, human rights activists and church people and NDFP consultants. Even your husbands as well as the AFP foot soldiers have been victims of the regime's callousness, warmongering and injustice.
We do not have a kangaroo court. A kangaroo court is one where justice can be bought to the advantage of the rich while the poor languish in prisons for crimes that they have not committed. I think you are familiar with such courts.

At this point, I ask that you try to recognize the other lies that have been told to you for what they are -- lies. Among the many others, I would like to make a few corrections:
First, the NPA had never denied, right from the start, the captivity of your husband. The military cannot concoct with such a statement purportedly from us because we never said anything like that. We were delayed in making any kind of announcement because foremost in the priorities of the NPA custodial forces was your husbands' security and safety amid the incessant fierce military operations in the countryside.

Secondly, the so-called AFP "rescue" missions that have been dispatched are not for the purpose of getting your husbands safely. The military merely wants to save face after the embarrassing back-to-back defeats that they have suffered in the hands of the people's army. It would not be surprising if they shoot your husbands themselves and put the blame on us. I realize that these may be difficult for you to believe. I'm sure many of your husbands' colleagues have approached you and derided the NPA.

I ask you now to let our records speak for us. The New People's Army has never made it a practice to be deceitful. Even with our mistakes, we have been upfront and forthright, sometimes at great cost to us. Through hard work, painstaking mass work and sincerity, we have gained the trust of the masses. The people's trust is the source of our increasing strength.
Your husbands have been as brave and accepting of their situation as they possibly can, even though they are also very eager to go home. It is my hope that you, being wives of soldiers, can, likewise, be as brave.

For the people,

(SGD) RUBI DEL MUNDO
Spokesperson

National Democratic Front of the Philippines
Southern Mindanao

ZTE-Diwalwal Deal Exposes Govt Greed, Says NDF

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 14, 2008) - The Arroyo regime's approval of and dismissive stance over the ZTE-Diwalwal mining deal sounds even more ominous and insensitive in the light of the huge landslide disaster in Maco town in Compostela Valley in Southern Mindanao which snuffed the lives of 24 people, the leftist National Democratic Front said Sunday.

It said the town of Maco, like Diwalwal, heaved its gold-rush mountains last week after years of plunder and ecological destruction by transnational mining corporations like the Canadian Crew Gold Corp.

The twin landslides that occurred in the village of Masara, Maco and Diwalwal in Monkayo which also injured a two-year old girl only add to the long list of mining tragedies in gold-rich site of Compostela Valley. Last year, ten people also died in the village of Masara after heavy rains triggered a landslide.

Crew Gold Corporation acquired three-fourths of share of Apex Mining Corporation which have been mining, causing ecological destruction and the massive displacement of peasant and Lumad families since the 1970s. At every onset of minimal monsoon rains and storms, landslides and flash floods are triggered because of the already damaged soil, the NDF said.

NDF spokesman Rubi del Mundo said through Mining Act of 1995, the Arroyo regime legitimized the unbridled plunder of our mining resources and the wanton destruction of our environment in the name of profit and total sell-out of our lands to multi-national, transnational and big local companies.

"As the victims of landslides suffer from the great loss of their loved ones and their livelihood, the Arroyo regime is shameless in holding of a Mining Summit in Davao City this month to further peddle whatever is left of our mineral- rich lands to foreign capitalists. Further, the anomalous Memorandum of Agreement between the GRP and the China's ZTE International Investment Limited which purportedly awarded 8,000 hectares claim in mining area of Mt. Diwalwal to the latter shows the brazen duplicity of the Arroyo regime," he said in a statement.

"The revolutionary movement will continue to resist this incessant plunder of our mining resources and plunder of our economy. The Red fighters of the New People's Army will continue to launch tactical offensives for the protection of the environment and the people; and the broad united front of the people will topple down this hated Arroyo regime," Del Mundo warned.

NDF Assails Banana Firm, Urges Striking Workers To Unite

DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 12 Oct) – The National Democratic Front (NDF), the political wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, on Thursday assailed the alleged rejection of the Japanese-owned banana packing company in Compostela Valley to grant the legitimate demands of its striking workers.

Some 200 banana workers from the group called Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa San Jose (NAMASAN) went on strike recently after accusing the AJMR-Sumitomo Fruit Corporation of unfair labor practise.

The NDF in Southern Midnanao also scored the Department of Labor and Employment and the Department of Justice of allegedly siding with the Japanese firm, but it did elaborate on the accusations against the two agencies.

But the workers were demanding that the AJMR-Sumitomo recognize their union so they can negotiate for fair wages and other labor benefits.

The banana firm was previously owned by the Stanfilco Dole and later handed its operations to the Fresh Banana Agricultural Corporation and was acquired by the AJMR-Sumitomo Fruit Corporation.

Rubi del Mundo, the NDF spokesman, said many workers were earning as little as P126 a day while the regular wage is P224.

“Workers must ally with other workers and farmers in Comval and other basic masses to demand for genuine land reform and national industrialization to stop land monopoly and to create more jobs,” Del Mundo said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner on Thursday. (Mindanao Examiner)