Philippine Army says no soldiers killed in Davao clash

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 1, 2009) – The Philippine Army on Tuesday denied reports by communist rebels that four soldiers were killed in an ambush in Davao City in Mindanao.

Leoncio Pitao, leader of the New People’s Army 1st Pulang Bagani Company, said four government soldiers were killed and six more wounded in the rebel attack on Sunday in the village of Dalagdag in Calinan district.

But the Army’s 10th Infantry Division said the fighting only wounded three soldiers and left a still undetermined number of rebels dead or wounded.

“We have no soldiers killed in the clash, but three are wounded in the fighting. We also inflicted casualties on the group of dissident-terrorist leader Leoncio Pitao,” Captain Rosa Maria Cristina Manuel, an army spokeswoman, told the Mindanao Examiner.

“In their haste to disengage with the more superior government troops, the rebels left behind their personal belongings, food items and other supplies as they fled towards northeast direction,” she said.

Pitao said rebel forces also seized a machine gun from the soldiers belonging to the Army’s 69th Infantry Battalion. This was also denied by Manuel.

“This recent NPA military offensive against the newly augmented 69th Infantry Battalion and the 10th Infantry Division fascists is a punitive action for the serious violations to human rights and international humanitarian law perpetrated by the Armed Forces of the Philippines against civilians in Davao hinterlands and provinces in Southern Mindanao,” said Pitao, who heads the NPA’s 1st Pulang Bagani Company.

He said the NPA continues to inflict heavy casualties on the military, despite the massive deployment of troops and militarization in the provinces.

“That the 10th Infantry Division-Armed Forces of the Philippines troops suffered heavy blows versus the people's army, despite the increasing number of its soldiers, nakedly shows the failure of the counter-revolutionary Oplan Bantay Laya II. It has utterly failed to stem the tide of the growing revolutionary movement in the face of intensive and extensive NPA tactical offensives in the region and elsewhere in the country,” Pitao said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

Manuel said the locals are supporting the military operations against the NPA. “Sooner or later, Pitao will be captured and he shall pay for all his crimes against the people. They should surrender peacefully,” she said.

The NPA is the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines which has been waging a secessionist war the past four decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. Peace talks collapsed in 2004 after rebel leaders accused the Arroyo government of reneging on a deal, among others, that will free political detainees and stop extrajudicial killings of activists in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)

4 soldiers killed, 6 more wounded in rebel ambush in South RP

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / August 31, 2009) – Four government soldiers were killed in an ambush by communist rebels in the restive region of the southern Philippines.

The weekend attack also left six soldiers wounded in the village of Dalagdag in Davao City’s Calinan district, said New People’s Army rebel leader Leoncio Pitao.

Pitao said rebel forces also seized a machine gun from the soldiers belonging to the Army’s 69th Infantry Battalion.

“This recent NPA military offensive against the newly augmented 69th Infantry Battalion and the 10th Infantry Division fascists is a punitive action for the serious violations to human rights and international humanitarian law perpetrated by the Armed Forces of the Philippines against civilians in Davao hinterlands and provinces in Southern Mindanao,” said Pitao, who heads the NPA’s 1st Pulang Bagani Company.

He said the NPA continues to inflict heavy casualties on the military, despite the massive deployment of troops and militarization in the provinces.

“That the 10th Infantry Division-Armed Forces of the Philippines troops suffered heavy blows versus the people's army, despite the increasing number of its soldiers, nakedly shows the failure of the counter-revolutionary Oplan Bantay Laya II. It has utterly failed to stem the tide of the growing revolutionary movement in the face of intensive and extensive NPA tactical offensives in the region and elsewhere in the country,” Pitao said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

There was no immediate statement from the military about the ambush.

The NPA is the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines which has been waging a secessionist war the past four decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. Peace talks collapsed in 2004 after rebel leaders accused the Arroyo government of reneging on a deal, among others, that will free political detainees and stop extrajudicial killings of activists in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)

Troops kill NPA commander; capture rebel base in Mindanao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 15, 2008) – Philippine troops killed a communist rebel commander in a clash in the southern region of Mindanao, officials said Monday.

Officials said soldiers also overran a rebel base of the New People's Army in the village of Tamayong in Calinan district in Davao City.

The weekend fighting killed Faustino Libot, leader of an NPA assassination unit called Sparrow, said Col. Roland Baustista, spokesman for the Army's 10th Infantry Division.

"Troops killed Libot in the fighting in Calinan and we recovered his M16 rifle. We also captured an NPA rebel base in the area," he said.

Baustista said the operation against the NPA still continue in the outskirts of Davao City, where the rebels are active.

The NPA 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.

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

The NPA said both Cammayo and Tumol are 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)

Policemen Wounded In Clash With Rebels In Mindanao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 26, 2008) – One Philippine policeman was wounded in a clash Friday with communist insurgents in Davao City in Mindanao Island, officials said.

Officials said police forces, backed by army soldiers, clashed with insurgents at around 1.10 p.m. in the village of Tamayong in Calinan district. They said villagers reported the presence of gunmen in the area.

Major Armando Rico, a regional army spokesman, said an undetermined number of insurgents were either killed or wounded in the fighting.

“They suffered heavy casualties,” Rico said, referring to the New People’s Army, the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines which broke off peace talks with Manila in 2004.

On Thursday, eight insurgents and three government soldiers were killed in fierce clashes that also left 14 infantrymen wounded in Lingig town in Surigao del Sur province, where troops captured a rebel base.

The rebels broke off peace talks with the Filipino government after they accused President Gloria Arroyo of reneging on a deal that would have freed hundreds of political detainees and a put a stop to extrajudicial killings of activists in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)

Gunmen Barge In House, Kill Occupant In Southern RP

DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 30 May) – A farmer was killed after four gunmen barged in his house in Davao City in the southern Philippines, police said.

Police said the attack occurred at around 5 a.m. Tuesday in the village of Pangyan in Calinan district in the city’s outskirts.

The man, Roselio Naypa, was shot in the head, police said.

“The victim was sleeping inside his house when the suspects knocked on the door of his house. When the victim opened the door, the suspects then shot him repeatedly with a .45-caliber pistol,” a police investigator said.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion fell on the so-called Davao Death Squad, a group of anti-crime vigilantes largely blamed on the spate of extra-judicial killings in the city.

Relatives and families of the gang’s victims have blamed the police and their private goons as behind the vigilante group. Carlito Perez, village chieftain, said Naypa had criminal records. (Romy Bwaga)

4 killed In Attack In South RP

DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 10 Apr) – Unidentified gunmen killed four members of a farming on a remote village in the southern Philippine city of Davao, authorities said.

It said the attack occurred late Monday in Calinan district. The motive of the killing is still unknown, but among those killed were two children.

No group or individual claimed responsibility for the attack. It was unknown if the killings had something to do with family feud or land conflict. (With a report from Romy Bwaga)