‘Overkill’: CPP says of AFP ops vs. Abu Sayyaf in Bohol

Posted to the often pro-Communist Party of the Philippines online publication the Davao Today (Apr 15): ‘Overkill’: CPP says of AFP ops vs. Abu Sayyaf in Bohol

The Communist Party of the Philippines called the military operations against a score of Abu Sayyaf members in the tourist province of Bohol an “overkill.”

“The news stories regarding the supposed arrival and presence of members of the Abu Sayaff criminal bandit group in Bohol island smacks of a US yarn,” the CPP said in a statement on Friday.

The CPP’s statement came as it received reports that 1,200 residents have forcibly evacuated after the Philippine Air Force dropped nine bombs in Barangays Napo, Calenti and Banahao in Inabangan.

The CPP also noted the United States’ involvement in the recent operations against the ASG. This as the communist group was suspicious of the travel advisory issued by the US Embassy on Sunday.

The US travel advisory warned its citizens against traveling to Cebu and Bohol because of possible “kidnapping.”

“The U.S Embassy has received unsubstantiated yet credible information that terrorist groups may attempt to conduct kidnappings in Central Visayas which includes both Cebu and Bohol provinces. U.S citizens are advised to carefully consider this information as you make travel plans and to review personal security plans, avoid large crowds, and gatherings and remain vigilant at all times,” the US Embassy in Manila said.

But the CPP said “(T)his story is typical of the tall tales spun by the US Central Intelligence Agency and their conspirators within the Philippine defense and security establishment.”

“The tall tale of the presence of the Abu Sayaff in Bohol likely forms part of a US plot to strengthen its foothold and increase the presence of its troops in the Central Visayas region. It broke out just a week prior to the ASEAN ministerial meeting scheduled later this month in Cebu. It is no secret that the US military has long been eyeing to establish facilities in the Mactan air field,” it added.

The CPP further claimed of conspiracy between the AFP and the US military, pointing out that Abu Sayyaf has “long been collaborating with the AFP and the US military.”

It said that Abu Sayaff was formed by “a group of armed men recruited by the US military to join the Taliban group which waged a CIA-hatched ‘jihad’ against the then Soviet-supported Afghanistan government.”

“For more than fifteen years now, the AFP has been downplaying the strength of the Abu Sayaff and making claims it can easily wipe out the criminal bandit group. The Abu Sayaff bandit groups, however, repeatedly reemerges depending on the need of the US and AFP. Military officials now claim it can wipe out the Abu Sayaff in its operations planned up to June 2017,” the CPP said.

“It has been used to carry out terrorist bombings and other dirty jobs for the CIA to justify its ‘war on terror’ and the presence of US foreign troops in the country,” the CPP said. “Its bandit activities, mainly kidnapping-for-ransom, had been lucrative for the Abu Sayaff ringleaders and their AFP handlers.”

http://davaotoday.com/main/politics/overkill-cpp-says-of-afp-ops-vs-abu-sayyaf-in-bohol/