NPA releases video clip of Special Forces captive in Mindanao

A video grab of New People's Army prisoner of war First Lieutenant Vicente Cammayo, of the Special Forces. Communist rebels release Sunday, November 30, 2008 a video clip of Cammayo, who was captured November 7, 2008 after a firefight in Compostela Valley province in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 30, 2008) – Communist rebels released Sunday a video clip of a Special Forces commander they are holding as a prisoner of war in Mindanao island, south of the Philippines.

The New People’s Army is holding First Lieutenant Vicente Cammayo since November 7 after rebel forces attacked his unit and killed two soldiers and a government militia in a fierce firefight in Casoon village in the town of Monkayo in Compostela Valley province.

The Army’s Eastern Mindanao Command said Cammayo was shot and wounded during the firefight. The rebels also seized an M60 machine gun and two M16 and one M14 automatic rifles from Cammayo's unit during the fighting.

The undated clip emailed to the Mindanao Examiner showed Cammayo already with mustache and bearded, sitting on a hammock surrounded by shrubs. One guard, armed with an automatic rifle, was standing about seven meters away from Cammayo – he was wearing a black t-shirt with inscription ALC, an acronym for an NPA unit called Alejandro Lanaja Command.

“I am First Lieutenant Vicente Cammayo, Philippine Army, team leader na naka-assign sa 10th Special Forces Company, naka-base sa Laak, ComVal province. I was captured in the performance of my duty during the encounter with the New People’s Army under Alejandro Lanaja Command dated 07 November 2008 at Barangay Casoon, ComVal province,” he said in his opening statement.

Cammayo, wearing a red t-shirt over his camouflage uniform, appeared to be nervous and tensed. “Bilang pamamalagi ko dito sa kamay nila bilang bihag o POW, hindi naman nalapastangan ang aking pagkatao at nirespeto ang aking mga karapatan. Ibinigay sa akin ang mga pangunahing kailangan. Maayos ang kanilang trato sa akin,” he said.

He also told his wife, Marielle Cammayo, and mother, Cecilia Cammayo, not to worry too much about him. Cammayo also asked the two women to pray for his early release from the hands of rebels.

Cammayo also denied military reports that he was shot and wounded during the fighting with rebels.

“Sa akin asawa na si Marielle Cammayo at sa akin nanay na si Cecilia Cammayo, nais kong malaaman ninyo wala akong tama o kaya ay nasugatan doon sa nangyaring enkuwentro at alam ko ngayon na hindi maayos ang inyong pagiisip dahil sa kaiisip sa akin. Nasa maayos akong kalagayan ngayon at sana ay ipagdasal natin na mapaaga ang aking paglaya sa kamay ng NPA,” he said in the last part of the clip.

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.

He 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 military denied all NPA allegations.

Aside from Cammayo, the NPA is also holding Police Officer 3 Eduardo Tumol, a member of the 1105th Provincial Mobile Group, who was arrested on November 5 by rebels at a checkpoint in the village of Baogo in Davao Oriental’s Caraga town.

Tumol's commander, Chief Inspector Angel Sumagaysay, and another policeman were able to escape from the rebels. Rigoberto Sanchez, a rebel spokesman, said Cammayo and Tumol are both being investigated for possible human rights violations and other crimes related to the operations of the Special Forces and the Provincial Mobile Group in Mindanao.

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)

Philippine rebels capture Army Special Forces commander

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 16, 2008) – A commander of the Philippine Army’s elite Special Forces, who went missing last week after a fierce firefight with communist rebels, is being held captive in Mindanao, a rebel spokesman said Sunday.

Rigoberto Sanchez, an NPA spokesman, said rebel forces are holding 1Lt. Vicente P. Cammayo, commander of the 11th Special Forces Company. “He was taken as an NPA prisoner of war,” Sanchez said, adding, the Alejandro Lanaja Command is holding Camayo captive.

Cammayo’s group clashed with rebels Nov. 7 in Compostela Valley's Monkayo town that left two army soldiers and a government militia dead in the village of Casoon.

“The smashing blow the Alejandro Lanaja Command of the New People’s Army delivered on an enemy unit touted as the regime's elite combat forces is a testament to the increasing military capabilities of the NPA. It is an apt punishment to the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the fascist and corrupt Arroyo regime for the grave atrocities it has committed and continues to commit against the Filipino masses,” Sanchez said.

Army Maj. Gen. Jogy Leo Fojas, commander of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, 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. “We will never stop until we get hold of Camayo and return him to his loved ones.”

Sanchez warned any rescue attempt would put Cammayo’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.

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

Sanchez said Cammayo’s rights as prisoner of war are being respected by rebels.

“His rights as a POW are guaranteed in consonance with the NPA's Three Rules of Discipline and Eight Points of Attention and Protocol II of the Geneva Convention,” he said. “We assure his wife and family that he is well and is adapting to the guerrilla conditions of his captivity.”

The rebels also seized an M60 machine gun and two M16 and one M14 automatic rifles from Cammayo’s unit during the fighting.

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. (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)

Commies Admit Holding Soldier, 2 Others As POWs In South RP

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 15, 2007) – Communist rebels on Monday said they are holding a government soldier and two others as prisoners of war and would be tried for crimes committed against civilians, a spokesman said.

Aris Francisco, of the New People’s Army Alejandro Command in Southern Mindanao, said the trio – Sgt. Raul Reyes, of the Philippine Army and militiamen Glorieto Mahumas and Ruddy Villaflor, also a village chieftain – are being investigated for war crimes and human rights violations in Compostela Valley province.

The three men were seized October 7 after NPA forces raided a government post in Montevista town. The rebels carted 16 assorted automatic weapons, the NPA spokesman said.

“Army detachment commander Sgt. Reyes and paramilitary members Mahumas and Villaflor are being held as prisoners of war. As part of the Philippine government's war machinery, they are facing preliminary investigations for the complaints filed against them that may constitute war crimes and violations against International Humanitarian Law and against civilians in Montevista, Compostela Valley Province.”

“Paramilitary Mahumas and Villaflor who double as local barangay (village) officials had been thoroughly active in local paramilitary recruitment, and had been instrumental in putting up military detachments in the Montevista villages. The Philippine military units deployed in the area, the 72nd and the 60th IB-AFP had been notorious in committing grave human rights abuses and violations,” Francisco said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

He said the three men are being treated well by their guards in accordance to their status as a prisoner of war.

“The NPA's track record in handling prisoners of war is proven just and humane contrary to the mercenary AFP that subjects their captives to physical and mental torture, intimidation, punishment, sexual abuse, inhumane treatment and murder,” he said.

“The NPA accords Mahumas, Reyes and Villaflor their rights to humane treatment and due process while in detention. This is in accordance to their status as a Prisoner of War under the war protocols, the GRP-NDFP Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CAR-HR-IHL), and the 1996 NDFP Unilateral Declaration of Undertaking to Apply the Provisions of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and Protocol 1 of 1977,” he said.

The rebels are fighting the democratic Filipino government for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)

Rebels Admit Attack In South RP

COMPOSTELA VALLEY – Communist rebels on Sunday claimed responsibility for the attack on a palm oil plantation owned by a southern Philippine town mayor.

Aris Francisco, a spokesman for the New People’s Army (NPA), said the attack on the plantation in the village of San Isidro in Monkayo town on April 15 was a “punitive action” against Mayor Manuel Brillantes.

“The tree palm oil plantation in San Isidro, Monkayo destroyed by the New People's Army is a sabotage operation meant as a punitive action against Monkayo Mayor Manuel Brillantes…for aggressively pushing his palm oil plantation interests in the area amid fierce resistance and growing complaints from local residents and leaders,” Francisco said in a statement sent to the independent regional Mindanao Examiner newspaper.

Francisco said many villagers were evicted from their homes by soldiers. One villager, Margarito Bartulabak, of San Isidro, was also killed late in March and that another, Emoy Hagonus, was kidnapped April 7.

“The NPA will not hesitate to punish despotic bureaucrats who victimize civilians and exploit their livelihood,” Francisco said.

The Philippine military denied all accusations. Brillantes could not be reached to comment on the allegations.

The NPA, is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which has been fighting the past three decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)