CPP/NPA: 4 killed and 5 wounded on the side of the 17th IB in another NPA ambush

Posted to the CPP Website (May 16): 4 killed and 5 wounded on the side of the 17th IB in another NPA ambush

Tipon Gil-ayab
Spokesperson
NPA Kalinga Provincial Operations Command (Lejo Cawilan Command)

At 5 o’clock yesterday morning, another ambush was successfully staged by Red fighters from the Marcial Daggay Front (MDF) along the road and near the Ayaya Waiting Shed in Sitio Sidog, Barangay Limos, Pinukpuk, Kalinga.


Confirmed by the unit command of the MDF and seen by civilians nearby, killed were four (4) fascist soldiers and five (5) other troopers were wounded. But insiders from the AFP’s 5thInfantry Division confirm that from the initial four (4) killed and five (5) wounded, three (3) more died from among those wounded bringing the figures to eight (8) killed and two (2) wounded . The casualties were all from the newly transferred and retrained 17th IB. To save face, Lt. Col. Alvin V. Flores, the Commanding Officer of the 17th IB, whose HQ is based at Kapanikian, Camalog, Pinukpuk, told to print and broadcast media that only 3 of their troops were wounded.

This is the second ambush the NPA-Kalinga launched this month. The first was carried out by the NPA unit from the Abraham Bannawagan Front (ABF) at Sitio Patiging, Barangay Bagumbayan, Tabuk at 9:30 in the morning of May 9 where two (2) soldiers died and six (6) were injured from the 17th IB, and with 1 M16 rifle seized by the people’s army. There was no NPA casualty on the 2 tactical offensives.

These tactical offensives of the NPA are directed against elements of the fascist AFP-PNP-CAFGU, especially when they embark on intelligence, combat and “peace and development” team (PDT) operations to impose the oppressive authority of the reactionary government on the people, even to the extent of trampling on the people’s democratic and civil rights. Wherever and whenever these operations of the enemy occur, the NPA does its best to take military actions against these fascist troops to protect the interests and defend the democratic rights of the oppressed and exploited masses. These tactical offensives of the NPA were not meant to disrupt the reactionary electoral process but are part of regular military actions. These also serves as punitive actions due to continuing terror undertaken by the fascist AFP and its minions against the people, especially during the election period. The AFP-PNP-CAFGU terror and sabotage operations are meant to discourage the populace from voting for candidates and parties who support the people’s demands, even as they serve as security personnel of candidates who have been active in buying the people’s votes, and to ensure the victory of the anti-people candidates in order to strengthen the oppressive and exploitative pillars of the ruling reactionary system.

To downplay the NPA successful tactical offensives in the span of just 5 days, the AFP commanders proclaimed hilariously to the media that said ambushes were undertaken because “NPA candidates and party lists” lost in the recent elections. This is clearly red-baiting to harass and malign progressive party lists and candidates, a significant number of whom lost because of the intensified terror and sabotage operations by the reactionary armed forces of the ruling classes that terrorized the voting populace. Through fraud and the use of “guns, goons and gold”, the reactionary AFP-PNP-CAFGU and the diehard anti-people politicians were in cahoots in manipulating the recent sham election in order to consolidate the ruling system and deodorize the Aquino regime, the present puppet of US imperialism. They systematically removed and destroyed the campaign paraphernalia of the progressive party lists and candidates; and they vilified and blamed the latter for military actions undertaken by the NPA.

In reality, the recent sham election is just part of the OPlan Bayanihan of the fascist AFP. In essence, both are, anti-people and anti-democratic, anti-development and anti-peace. OPLan Bayanihan and the recent May 13 Elections serve to perpetuate the oppressive and exploitative semi-colonial and semi-feudal system of Philippine society, which is ruled by the big landlords and compradors under the dictate of US imperialism. Both mirror the true image of the reactionary US-Aquino regime, the head of the ruling state of big compradors and landlords. Under the present regime, exploitation of the Filipino workers and peasants is intensified, and the national patrimony and sovereignty of the Filipino people and the ancestral lands and the rich natural resources of the national minorities continue to be under the control of the landlord-compradors and bureaucrat officials who implement the economic and political policies and the military programs of US imperialism in the whole country. And such would only result to the ever worsening human rights violations, poverty and hunger of the suffering majority of the masses.

Under the fascist AFP’s OPlan Bayanihan, the PDT operations continue to trample on the people’s rights. These are, in fact, a violation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) that has been turned into a mockery by the US-Aquino regime. The peace negotiations between the GRP and the NDFP has long been stalled as the only desire of the reactionary Aquino regime, its fascist AFP and its US imperialist master is the capitulation of the revolutionary movement. They are persistently luring the CPP-NPA and the NDFP into a trap by promoting localized peace talks in order to weaken and defeat the revolutionary forces.

There is no sign at all for the US-Aquino regime to open up towards fundamental changes in Philippine society. This only proves the correctness of the national-democratic revolution through people’s war as the only right path to liberate the Filipino people. We, therefore, call on all the democratic classes and sectors of Philippine society to send their sons and daughters to join the NPA. And let us launch more tactical offensives to contribute to the advance of the people’s war to the strategic stalemate and to final victory.

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/statements/20130516_4-killed-and-5-wounded-on-the-side-of-the-17th-ib-in-another-npa-ambush