German tourist abducted in South RP

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 21, 2010) – A German tourist who was to see his Filipino fiancée was reported to have been abducted in Davao City in the southern Philippines, authorities said Monday.

Authorities said Fier Medricat, whose father is living with another Filipino woman in Davao City, was taken on Sunday by two men in Toril, a village where communist rebels are actively operating.

Medricat’s girlfriend told police that the foreigner sent her an SMS to say that he was taken by two men who said they were members of the communist New People’s Army rebels. He said the men also took his money worth over P400,000.

The woman, niece of the Filipino wife of Medricat’s father, reported the matter to the authorities.

She said Medricat was supposed to meet her on Saturday in the village, but the foreigner told her that he was lost in Toril and stayed with a woman in the village whom he identified only as Mama.

Government troops also launched an operation to help the police in their investigation into the reported abduction.

“Soldiers from the 69th Infantry Battalion mounted a complimentary operation in Toril to help police investigating the reported abduction of Fier Medricat,” said Army Captain Emmanuel Garcia, a spokesman for the 10th Infantry Division.

Garcia would not say if rebels were really involved in the abduction, although the New People’s Army is not known to target foreigners for ransom, but had warned it would attack US troops deployed in the restive region to help local soldiers defeat communist insurgents.

Gangsters and criminals had in the past posed as communist rebels to extort money from traders in the southern Philippines. The NPA is the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines which is waging a secessionist war the past four decades. (Mindanao Examiner)

3 Soldiers Killed In NPA Ambush In Davao City

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 22, 2010) – Communist rebels ambushed Saturday a group of government soldiers, killing three infantrymen and wounding another in Davao City in the southern Philippines, officials said.

The attack occurred in the village of Barakatan in Toril District where New People’s Army opened fire on soldiers and government militias, said Captain Emmanuel Garcia, a spokesman for the 10th Infantry Division.

He said there were no reports of civilian casualties. “The ambush showed the treachery and utter disregard of the New People’s Army to human lives, particularly civilians, who might have been hit by bullets as there are houses a few hundred meters away from the soldiers,” Garcia said.

He said troops fought back and forcing the rebels to retreat. It was unknown whether there were casualties on the rebel side.

Garcia said rebel forces also killed 7 people and wounded at least a dozen other in separate attacks the past 6 months in Maragusan town in Compostela Valley and Boston town in Davao Oriental provinces.

There was no immediate statement from the rebel group about the attack, but it is still holding three soldiers and a government militia in Compostela Valley’s Mawab town.

The prisoners, Army Corporals Marcial Bawagan, Ariel Asumo, Eduardo Alcala and militiaman Victor Pitogo, were seized by rebels on May 12 while at a birthday party in the village of Sawangan.

The rebel group said the four prisoners are safe and well, but warned that an ongoing military rescue operation could endanger the lives of the hostages.

The New People’s Army is the military wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines which is waging a secessionist war for decades now. (Mindanao Examiner)

NPA rebels attack army post in Davao City

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 1, 2009) – A government soldier was killed and another injured after communist rebels attacked before dawn Monday a military post in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said at least 8 New People’s Army rebels were involved in the attack that occurred at around 1 a.m. in the village of Catigan in Davao City’s Toril District.

“Two soldiers were wounded, but one of them died before reaching the hospital. We still don’t know if there enemies killed, but there is a pursuit operation going on to track down the NPA attackers,” Captain Rose Maria Cristina Manuel, a spokeswoman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner.

She said the soldiers were deployed in Toril following reports from villagers that NPA rebels were frequently spotted in the area.

“Field reports revealed that the NPA rebels are consistently seen in Toril area and exerting efforts to redeem their lost mass base. The organization of Barangay Defense System is pioneer in Toril District and it has been effective in solving peace and order problems,” Manuel said.

The Barangay Defense System is part of the military’s counter-insurgency program and is dubbed as the Integrated Area Community Public Safety Plan to monitor the movements of rebel groups. Many members of the Barangay Defense System are former rebels themselves.

But human rights groups accused the military of using the Barangay Defense System to harass civilians and forced them to give information about the rebels. (Mindanao Examiner)

NPA Rebel Killed In Mindanao Clash

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 26, 2008) – Government troops clashed with Philippine communist rebels on Wednesday, killing one gunman in the southern island of Mindanao, an army spokesman said.

Lt. Col. Roland Bautista, of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, said the fighting erupted in the village of Sibulan in Toril district in the outskirts of Davao City.

“Operating troops encountered the rebels and a firefight ensued that resulted to the killing of one NPA rebel,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

Bautista was referring to the New People’s Army, armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines, which is waging a secessionist war the past four decades.

‘There were no reports of military casualties and anti-insurgency operation is going on,” he said.

Government forces are still searching for Army Lt. Vicente Cammayo, who was captured Nov. 19 by rebel forces after a firefight in Monkayo town in Compostela Valley province.

The NPA admitted holding Cammayo, commander of the Special Forces, as prisoner of war and warned that any military rescue operation would put the officer's life in peril.

The rebels said Cammayo is being interrogated for possible human rights violations and other crimes related to operations of the Special Forces in Mindanao.

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. He 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 military denied all accusations against the. (Mindanao Examiner)

Commies Kill 3 Army Soldiers In South RP Raid

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 01, 2008) – Communist insurgents killed three government soldiers in a clash Saturday in the southern Philippines, the military said.

The military said six other soldiers were wounded in the fighting on remote village in Davao City’s Toril district. The clash erupted after New People’s Army fighters attacked an army post shortly before 7 a.m.

The clash lasted several minutes, according to an army report, but it did not say whether there gunmen killed or wounded.

The outskirt of Davao City is a known stronghold of the NPA, which is fighting the past four decades for the establishment of a separate Maoist state.

Philippine military chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon vowed to crush all NPA fronts in the country and Army Chief Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano said strength of the rebel group is steadily declining because of continued government offensive.

The NPA is the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front, which broke of peace talks with government in 2004 after the United States in Manila's prodding added them to its list of foreign terrorist organizations.

Rebel leaders said they would only resume peace negotiations if Washington removes them from the terror tag and if President Gloria Arroyo is ousted and have intensified their offensives against military and government targets across the country.

Last month, the military rewarded over one million pesos to two civilians who helped capture two senior NPA leaders in Mindanao - Saturnino Roda, who was captured in Zamboanga del Sur province in August last year and Joe Paculba, captured also after Roda’s fall in Misamis Occidental.

The military said the bounty is part of Manila’s Rewards for Justice Program patterned after the US rewards program which is a big boost to ongoing anti-insurgency campaign in the Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)