CPP/Ang Bayan: AFP suffers 10 casualties in Agusan del Sur

Propaganda article from the English language edition of the CPP online publication Ang Bayan (Dec 21): AFP suffers 10 casualties in Agusan del Sur

An officer and two soldiers were killed, while seven troops were wounded in harassment operations launched by the Western Agusan Norte-Agusan Sur Subregional Command of the New People’s Army (NPA) in La Paz and Talacogon towns, Agusan del Sur on December 13 and 14.

On December 13, at around 4:30 a.m., an NPA harassment team attacked a platoon-size unit under the 26th and 36th IB occupying a school in Sitio Libon, Barangay Leydia, La Paz. Three soldiers were wounded in this harassment operation. The residents had been complaining about the soldiers for turning the literacy-numeracy school being run by the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines into military barracks.

In a related development, a Lieutenant Meneses was killed and four other troopers from the 26th and 36th IB wounded on December 14, at around 5 a.m. after the NPA used command-detonated explosives (CDX) in an attack in Sitio Min-angkig, Barangay Angeles, La Paz.

By 3:30 p.m. of the same day, an NPA team launched another CDX attack, this time on a six-by-six truck loaded with 26th IB troopers at a log pond in Barangay Zillova, Talacogon, killing two soldiers. The CDX attack was conducted in the middle of a vast plain, only three kilometers away from the battalion headquarters at the town center.

Large numbers of military troops have arrived in the area to pave the way for the entry of Metro Luxury Mining Corp., which will be extracting gold and copper. Prior to this, soldiers forced the datus of local tribes to sign documents ceding 30,000 hectares of their ancestral land in San Luis and Esperanza towns to the mining company.

On December 10, four truckloads of residents went to Butuan City to condemn the militarization of their communities and demand the pullout of military troops. Roads and town centers “turned red” with numerous placards and streamers stating their demands. Even the tributaries of the Agusan River were filled with placards and streamers floating on banana stalks.

[Ang Bayan is the official news organ of the Communist Party of the Philippines and is issued by the CPP Central Committee. It provides news about the work of the Party as well as its analysis of and views on current issues. Ang Bayan comes out fortnightly and is published in Pilipino, Bisaya, Ilokano, Waray, Hiligaynon and English.]

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/publications/ang_bayan/20141221/afp-suffers-10-casualties-in-agusan-del-sur