Military: NPA's claims a ‘mere propaganda’

From the Sun Star-Cagayan de Oro (Oct 4): Military: NPA's claims a ‘mere propaganda’

THE military denied claims of the Maoist rebels to the chain of attacks that killed a few of the soldiers in three days.

Based on a press statement released by the New People’s Army–North Central Mindanao Regional Command (NPA-NCMR) Wednesday, the Maoist rebels claimed they have killed 16 members of the Philippine army assigned in Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon.

“Sulod lang sa tulo ka adlaw, 16 ka sundalo ang napatay ug laing unom pa ang samaron gumikan sa sunod-sunod nga mga aksyong militar sa New People's Army sa North Central Mindanao Region (In just three days, 16 military personnel were killed and six were wounded due to the series of attacks owned by the New People’s Army in North Central Mindanao Region,” the statement said.

The NPA–NCMR, according to their statement, made the biggest score when the group used command-detonated landmines against the Army’s 58th Infantry Batallion in Sitio Camansi, Barangay Banglay, Lagonglong, Misamis Oriental.

The statement said the NPA-NCMR killed 10 and wounded five soldiers from that encounter alone.

“Bisan patay-limod ang kasundalohan sa pag-asdang sa rebolusyonaryong kalihukan dinhi sa rehiyon, apan ang serye sa mga opensiba sa NPA ug nagkadakong ihap sa kaswalidad sa AFP ang mupamatuod sa pagkusog sa armadong pagsukol sa katawhan (Although the army denied the increasing forces of the revolutionary movement, but the series of offensives of the NPA and the big number of casualties coming from the AFP only proves that the armed struggle is soaring high),” the statement said.

The statement said the series of victorious tactical offensives is their (NPA) response to President Benigno Aguino III’s Oplan Bayanihan that protects his decrementing regime due to the P10-billion Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scandal.

Meanwhile, Captain Christian Uy, spokesperson of the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Division (4th ID) said: “Almost everything they have reported were just propaganda.

He said only thing that is real in those statements is the harassment.

“Mga three to five ra ka shot para lang ma-divert among attention from our operation sa Lagonglong (The rebels fired two to five shots just to divert our attention from our military operations in Lagonglong),” said Uy.

Uy said only one member of the army died in those combat operations and six were slightly wounded.

He added the encounters in Lagonglong, Misamis Oriental was a military offensive as they conduct pursuit operations after the attacks in Lantad in Barangay Kibanban in Balingasag town in Misamis Oriental last week.

On Thursday, two helicopters landed in the 4th ID base in Camp Evangelista, barangay Patag to bring food and ammunition to their troops chasing the rebels in Lagonglong.

“Gaka-ipit na ang NPA sa Lagonglong, and open mi sa mga mo-surrender (The NPAs are getting cornered in Lagonglong, and we are open to those who want to surrender),” said Uy.

In a text message to this paper Thursday evening, the rebels said they killed two more soldiers in its offensive at Sitio Kapatagan in Barangay Umagos in Lagonglong town Thursday morning.

"We strafed the helicopters of the military which made an emergency landing in Balingasag," the message read.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cagayan-de-oro/local-news/2013/10/04/military-npas-claims-mere-propaganda-306753