Army set to go after remaining communist rebels in Bicol

From the Business Mirror (Oct 14): Army set to go after remaining communist rebels in Bicol

The Army here on Wednesday said it will intensify operations to get the 11 communist cadres and 39 New People’s Army (NPA) rebels who operate in Albay and Catanduanes.

Maj. Gen. Yerson Depayso, commander of the Ninth Infantry “Spear” Division, earlier ordered Col. Claudio Yucot, the new 901st Infantry Brigade (IB) commander, to go after the remnants of the communist movement in the two provinces to support their tourism industry and ensure peaceful local elections next year.

It was learned that the Bicol Regional Party Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has still 11 members, while the NPA still has 39 guerrillas in Albay and Catanduanes.

Yucot took over command of the 901IB from Col. Raul Farnacio, who was reassigned to the Army headquarters in Fort Andres Bonifacio in Taguig City.

The turnover of command was held at the 901IB headquarters in Barangay Villahermosa, Daraga, Albay.

Albay was formally declared a manageable conflict area (MCA) on April 23 by the 9ID, while Catanduanes was declared MCA in December 2014.

A province is said to be an MCA when any possible rebel atrocities can be immediately contained or prevented from escalating to the point of causing major disturbance to peace and social development.

But there are still eight CPP cadres and 29 NPA rebels in Albay, as well as another three CPP cadres and 10 NPA rebels in Catanduanes, based on the second quarter intelligence assessment this year.

Depayso thanked Farnacio and the men of the 901IB for their contribution in making the 9ID as one of the three best units in the Army during the recent Army Day celebration. These are the 9ID, the Third Infantry “Spear” Division and the Signal Group.

He also received the brigade’s accomplishment report, which features its various support for Team Albay.

Depayso said he wants a further reduction in the firearms and enemy strength of the NPA operating in Albay and Catanduanes through the military’s Internal Peace and Security Plan Bayanihan.

He said the Army’s core competence is to eliminate communist insurgency and to achieve this, it is necessary to eliminate the armed insurgents which hinder other government agencies to deliver their services in far-flung areas.

“Not known to every Bicolano, who sleeps well at night, is the stress being experienced by every soldier assigned here in Bicol. While you are sleeping well at night, our troops are there in the mountains patrolling and seeing to it that no armed groups are roaming around, and that goes true with the commander, who has to pray hard that nothing bad happens to his men,” he said.

Depayso added that there was a lot of improvement over the years in achieving peace and order in Bicol.

He recalled that on May 11, 1982, he was a member of a battalion conducting an operation in Labo, Camarines Norte, and Lup and Ragay, Camarines Sur.

“It was the start of the communist insurgency in Bicol. The fighting occurred, even along the highway, after our troops were ambushed in Basud, while the Constabulary had a firefight at the Bitukang Manok area and in Albay.

The son of General [Felix] Brawner [then-Armed Forces deputy chief of staff for operations] was killed after his vehicle hit a land mine. That was how fighting between government forces and NPA rebels in Bicol started,” he said.

But over the years, with the contribution of all—including the Army and other units of the Armed Forces, as well as civil agencies, the Constabulary before, and now the National Police—we have achieved a huge improvement in the overall peace and order situation.

He said today, there are no ambushes on the national highway and travel is now safe.
“We have driven them [the guerrillas] to the countryside, and that is what we are continuing to do now,” he said.

The tourism industry in Catanduanes has benefited from Albay Gov. Joey Salceda’s aggressive tourism promotion of Albay-Masbate-Sorsogon growth corridor.

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/army-set-to-go-after-remaining-communist-rebels-in-bicol/