Thirty-four soldiers were killed and at least three wounded in four tactical offensives launched by the Antonio Licawen Command (ALC) at the Benguet-Abra-Mountain Province-Ilocos Sur (BAMPIS) quadri-boundary from April to June against a massive attack by the 50th IB in the area. BAMPIS is part of the Ilocos-Cordillera Region (ICR).
Twenty-three of the casualties were killed between Dilong, Tubo, Abra and Malideg, Quirino, Ilocos Sur when the KM450 truck they were riding fell into a ravine after the NPA rained bullets on it on May 2. It was the biggest casualty suffered by the 50th IB in any gunbattle. Earlier, five soldiers had also been killed in another NPA ambush in Remedios, Cervantes, Ilocos Sur on May 1.
The NPA operation was successful despite the ambush site’s proximity to the 50th IB’s headquarters. Out of extreme embarrassment, Lt. Col. Richard Sibayan, 50th IB chief, admitted a casualty count of only one dead and a few wounded.
In the latest NPA tactical offensive in the area, five troopers were killed and at least two wounded when Red fighters waylaid the 50th IB at Mt. Layaban in Tubo, Abra on June 28.
One other soldier was killed and another wounded in a harassment operation by the ALC against the 52nd Division Reconnaissance Company near Baclingayan, Tubo, Abra on April 5.
BAMPIS is on the 5th ID’s list of priority guerrilla fronts to be dismantled in the second phase of Oplan Bayanihan this year. The reactionary state had already tried but failed twice to “neutralize” or “crush” BAMPIS (in 2009 and 2011).
[Ang Bayan is the official news organ of the Communist Party of the
http://www.philippinerevolution.net/publications/ang_bayan/20140721/34-soldiers-killed-in-icr
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