1 killed, 32 wounded in twin grenade blasts in Mindanao

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Philippine Army presents captured NPA rebel leader in Mindanao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 18, 2009) – The Philippine Army on Thursday paraded a senior communist rebel leader captured by soldiers in Mindanao.

Lieutenant Kurt Decapia, of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, said rebel leader Felix Capalla was captured on Sunday at a checkpoint in the village of Pulatana in Sarangani’s Malungon town. But his arrest was only announced by the military on Thursday in Davao City.

Capalla is vice commander for regional operations of the New People’s Army, armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines to which he is a politburo member.

Decapia said the rebel leader was in a commuter bus bound for Davao City when he was arrested at the checkpoint.

He said Capalla was behind the series of attacks against military and civilian targets in Mindanao.

Major General Reynaldo Mapagu, commander of the 10th Infantry Division, said the capture of Capalla was a big blow to the CPP and the NPA. “This is another big blow to the CPP leadership. We will continually exert more efforts to arrest more of them and make these criminals responsible before the law for the crimes they have committed,” he said.

Mapagu urged rebels to surrender and return to the folds of the law. “We appreciate it more if the NPAs will voluntarily surrender and return to the mainstream society. We will assure our brothers, who are still in the mountains, that we will assist them to avail of the Social Integration Program of the government,” Mapagu said.

The NPA is fighting for the establishment of a Maoist state in the Philippines and peace talks with Manila had collapsed in 2004. The rebels accused the Arroyo government of reneging on a deal that would free political prisoners and stop extrajudicial killings of activists in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)

Two NPA rebels killed in Digos clash

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 17, 2009) – Government soldiers killed two New People’s Army rebels in a firefight Sunday in the southern Philippine city of Digos, officials said.

Officials said the fighting erupted after troops attacked a group of communist rebels in the village called Goma at around noon time.

Villagers secretly tipped off the military about the presence of rebels in the area, said Lt. Col. Kurt Decapia, of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.

“The firefight was a result of the tip-off information from the members of the Barangay Defense System who reported the NPA’s presence in the vicinity of their village,” he said.

“The troops maneuvered towards the location of the NPA that caught the latter in surprise and was forced to withdraw into different directions after the heavy volume of fire delivered by the troops leaving behind two M16 rifles in the possession of two dead NPAs,” he said.

There were no reports of military casualties. The military vowed to step up offensive against the rebels who are fighting the past decades to put up 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)

NPA Rebels Raid Mining Firm In South RP

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 9, 2008) - Communist insurgents raided a mining firm in Compostela Valley province and warned of more attacks in the southern Philippines, officials said Wednesday.

About 20 insurgents, who were members of the New People’s Army, attacked a field office of the Philco Mining Corporation in the village of Camanlangan in New Bataan town on Tuesday.

The gunmen torched a generator and then escaped. No one was killed or hurt in the raid, said Lt. Col. Kurt Decapia, a spokesman of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.

Decapia said soldiers were pursuing the insurgents. “There is an operation going on. Troops from the 28th Infantry Battalion are tracking down the raiders,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

The raid came barely a day after suspected insurgents gunned down a policeman at a crowded market in the town of Cateel in Davao Oriental province, also in the southern Philippines.

Police blamed the NPA in the killing of Ireneo Poblete, who was shot at close range while buying food late Monday afternoon. The insurgents warned it would target abusive policemen and soldiers and government officials who violate human rights and oppress the poor.

Last week, insurgents also raided a police base in the town of Banaybanay also in Davao Oriental and seized 18 mostly automatic weapons.

The NPA’s Merardo Arce Command said it seized so many weapons from soldiers and policemen the past three months that it was able to armed two new rebel platoons, Rigoberto Sanchez, the group’s spokesman, said.

“The NPA will inflict mounting casualties, seize more arms and accelerate the building of more NPA platoons,” he said.

The NPA is the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines, which is fighting for a separate Maoist state in the country. (With reports from Romy Bwaga)