The military and the communist New People’s Army (NPA) are locked in the media war in
In a press statement, Army Maj. General Ricardo Visaya, commander of the army’s 4th Infantry Division in Cagayan De Oro City, claimed that the NPA rebels in Agusan Del Sur now gradually disband.
Visaya said that the NPA is dissipating because it has lost the support of the people who have been fed up with the communist false promises.
The arrest of Benito Tiamzon, Chairman of the CPP-NPA and his wife Wilma Tiamzon, the CPP-NPA secretary-general, crippled the NPA’s support system which resulted in indiscriminate extortion activities of the NPA units in
He said that one of the proofs that the communist rebels have lost ground was the surrender of 137 NPA rebels along with their 135 assorted firearms for the military in the hinterland town of
The situation is exacerbated with the killing of Joseph Tajora Cainong, the NPA commander of the Guerilla Front 8 in Agusan Del Sur, along with his 11 armed men during a siege of the house of a tribal leader in Agusan Del Sur last July 15, 2014.
Visaya said that the NPA rebels tried to win back the confidence of the tribal communities in Agusan Del Sur through fear and terror, but proved costly when the tribal group fought back, which resulted in the killing of Canaan and his men and the recovery of nine high powered firearms of the rebels.
The latest of these series of debacles was the killing of two NPA rebels during an encounter with the elements of the army’s 26th Infantry Battalion last Friday in the hinterland
Visaya said that the bodies of the NPA rebels were recovered from the encounter site. “The bodies were turned over to the local government unit for proper identification,” he said.
According to Visaya, the military also recovered a total of 10 assorted high powered firearms consisting of five AK-47, three M16, one M203 grenade launcher, and one AR15.
He said that while he has ordered all military units to pursue the NPA rebels to flush them out of their mountain lairs, “I also urged them to lay down their arms and return to the fold of the law and we will give them hope for a better life.”
While the military claims victory in the anti-insurgency war in Agusan Del Sur, the NPA rebels are also asserting conquest in various war fronts in Agusan Del Norte and
In a statement to various media outlets in
He said that the military has kept secret the killing of two army troopers and the wounding of six others in separate encounters with the NPA guerrillas in San Luis, Agusan del Sur and Buenavista, Agusan Del Norte last August 9 and 10, 2014.
One element of the army’s 29th Infantry Battalion based in Agusan Del Norte was killed while two others were wounded when the NPA attacked army’s operating troops in Sitio Afga, in the
Ibarra said that another government trooper of the army’s 26th IB was killed while four others were wounded in a separate armed encounter in KM. 18 in the
“In both armed encounters, the communist NPA rebels did not suffer a single casualty,” Ibarra said.
He said that the mounting casualties of the military in various armed skirmished with the NPA rebels, like the death and the critical condition of the wounded soldiers, were also kept by the military from the media and the local community.
The NPA spokesperson also described the various surrender rites of communist guerrillas in
He said that the people also abhorred the military because the ordinary civilians were the usual victims of the militarization in the countryside.
Ibarra cited the evacuation of residents, mostly farmers, in the hinterland of Mintakii in the
The rank-and-file troops of the military are also deeply dismayed by the corruption of ranking military officers and the miserable conditions of the government troopers in the field being used as shields and pawns of the government, Ibarra said.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=673676
And so the propaganda battle between the military and the Maoist insurgents continues. The truth is the NPA has had some setbacks in Northern Mindanao but it has not been rendered totally ineffective. The insurgents can still mount ambushes and hit and run raids against soft civilian targets.
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