Troops kill rebel in Mindanao fighting

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 11, 2009) – Government soldiers killed a communist rebel and wounded at least 10 more in a clash Thursday in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said the fighting broke out in the village called Napnapan in Compostela Valley’s Pantukan town where a rebel encampment was overrun by troops shortly before 3 p.m. Troops also recovered weapons and improvised explosives left behind by New People’s Army rebels.

“The troops were able to overrun the harbor site of the NPA which was laid with anti-personnel mines. The encounter was the result of the continuous pursuit operations conducted by the unit after the troops overrun an NPA encampment also in the village of Napnapan on June 2,” said Army Captain Rosa Maria Cristina Manuel, a spokeswoman for the 10th Infantry Division.

“Local residents reported to the troops that they saw more than ten wounded NPA members being carried along by their comrades using three commuter motorcycles,” she said.

Manuel said the rebels were also behind the May 29 raid on Apex Mining in Maco town in Compostela Valley after soldiers found the company’s security tags in the encampment.

Meanwhile, Major General Reynaldo Mapagu, commander of the army division, said civilians played a key role in the success of the government operations against the NPA. “The support of the civilians in the area was the key to our success. This simply means that the general public wants peace and progress, not an armed struggle,” he said. (Mindanao Examiner)

Search continues for missing landslide victims in southern Philippines

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 19, 2009) – At least 45 people were dead and missing following a landslide at a gold rush site in the southern Philippine province of Compostela Valley, security officials said on Tuesday.

Officials said army soldiers and government militias were sent to help in the search for more than a dozen people reported missing since Monday’s landslide in the village of Napnapan in Pantukan town.

“Heavy rains loosened mud and boulders and the landslide killed at least 26 people and 19 others are still missing. We are searching for them,” Captain Rosa Maria Cristina Manuel, a spokeswoman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner.

Manuel said at least 16 more were injured in the landslide. More than two dozen houses were either buried or destroyed by the landslide, she said.

She said Maj. Gen. Reynaldo Mapagu, commander of the 10th Infantry Division, ordered more troops in the area to help in the search and rescue operation.

“Soldiers from the 2nd Scout Ranger Battalion are helping rescuers in the area. Government militias are also helping search for those missing,” she said.

Philippine troops were deployed on a remote mountain town in Mindanao to help in search and rescue operation after a landslide buried small houses, officials said Saturday.

Late last year, at least a dozen people, among them children, were also killed in landslides in Monkayo and Maco towns, both gold rush areas in Compostela Valley.

Army soldiers were also sent in the province in the past to help rescuers search for landslide survivors. Many small scale miners put up thatched houses from near where they are digging for gold.

Authorities have previously banned miners from putting up houses and structures on mountain slopes because of the dangers posed by mudslides. Squatters have mushroomed in the area over the years despite similar incidents in the past. (Mindanao Examiner)

Troops clash with NPA, JI in southern Philippines

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 8, 2009) – Government troops clashed separately before sunrise Sunday with communist rebels and local Jemaah Islamiya members in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said troops and government militiamen clashed with New People’s Army rebels at around 4.30 a.m. on a village in Davao Oriental’s Banganga town. One militia and an undetermined number of rebels were killed in the fighting, said Lt. Col. Roland Bautista, a spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.

“One militia was killed and an undetermined number of rebels were believed slain and wounded in the clash,” he said, adding, troops recovered an M16 rifle, radio transceivers and combat packs from the fighting.

Bautista said another group of army soldiers also clashed with Jemaah Islamiya militants at around 4.40 a.m. in the village of Napnapan in Pantukan town in Compostela Valley province and capturing a Filipino bomb expert, Giovanni de Ocampo.

He said the captive admitted during interrogation that he is a member of the Indonesian militant group Jemaah Islamiya and is also an alleged commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

“Initial report revealed that he is a trainer and an expert in manufacturing of improvised explosives which has caused the death of many innocent civilians and destruction of properties in this part of Mindanao,” Bautista said without further elaborating, saying, security forces were still hunting down other Jemaah Islamiya militants in the province.

There were no reports of military casualties in both clashes.

The MILF has denied the military report and disowned De Ocampo. “We have repeatedly denounced terrorism and the MILF has nothing to do with the Jemaah Islamiya,” said Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader.

The MILF is the country’s largest Muslim rebel group which is fighting the past decades for independence in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)

Police Intell Killed In South RP

COMPOSTELA VALLEY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 24, 2008) – Three gunmen killed assassinated a policeman shortly after stepping out of his house to throw garbage in the southern Philippines.

Police said the victim, Senior Police Officer 1 Rex Tacasan, was killed on Thursday in the village of Tambongon in Patukan town.

The motive of the attack is still unknown and police are investigating whether the killing was carried out by communist rebels or criminal syndicates. Tacasan was a member of the Regional Intelligence and Investigation Division of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 11 in Mindanao.

Police said it recovered empty shells of M14 and M16 automatic rifles at the crime scene. (With a report from Romy Bwaga)

Four NPA Rebels, 1 Militia Killed In Mindanao Clashes

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 13, 2008) – Four communist rebels and a government militia were killed in separate clashes Monday in Mindanao, a regional army spokesman said.

Major Armand Rico said about 60 New People’s Army rebels attacked a military patrol base at around 4 a.m. in the village of Kingking in Pantukan town in Compostela Valley province.

Troops, from the 72nd Infantry Battalion, fought the rebel forces for three hours until they retreated, Rico said, adding, the clash left two NPA gunmen and a government militia dead.

“Troops repelled the attacks and killed two rebels, but one of our militias was also slain in the fighting,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

He said another group of rebel forces also clashed with soldiers belonging to the 60th Infantry Battalion shortly before 10 a.m. in Palma Gil village in Davao del Norte’s Talaingod town.

The fighting, he said, also left two NPA rebels killed and none of the military side.Two army soldiers were also killed in the town when NPA rebels ambushed a military truck transporting provisions to troops in the province.

The NPA is fighting for decades to overthrow the democratic government and install a Maoist state in the Philippines.

Rebel leaders broke off peace talks with the Arroyo government in 2004 after accusing Manila of reneging on a deal that would have freed thousands of political detainees and put a stop to the extra-judicial killings of activists in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)