MILF: BTC Holds 6th Plenary session amidst BBL deliberations by congress

Posted to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front Website (Jan 10): BTC Holds 6th Plenary session amidst BBL deliberations by congress



Amidst the First Reading in Congress of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), the Expanded Bangsamoro Transition Commission held its 6th Plenary Session on January 8-9, 2018 at the BTC Session Hall, 4th Fl, Elena V. Co Building, Don Rufino Alonzo St., Cotabato City presided by Chairman Ghazali Jaafar.

Except for Comm. Firdauzi Abbas, twenty (20) commissioners attended the 2-day sessions, and tackled the following agenda, viz a viz : IP'S issues in the proposed core territory ; Report of Commissioner's engagement with the Senate Sub - Committee on BBL; BTC plan for further engagements with congress for BBL approval, and other matters.

The BTC Commissioners agreed to create a Multi - Sectoral Task force to study, and make recommendations on all IP issues in the proposed core territory of the Bangsamoro including the recent incident at Mt. Firis that caused havoc among Te'duray communities, and displacement of more than 300 families.

The BTC commissioners also brought their attention to the chair regarding their observations that there was no proposed bill crafted by the Commission that has been filed in the senate except the versions filed by Senate President Koko Pimentel, and Senator Migs Zubiri.

It has been argued by the commissioners that they were given a mandate by virtue of their appointment issued and signed by the Office of the President to craft a law for the establishment of the Bangsamoro Government that is inclusive, and based on the 1996 GRP-MNLF Final Peace Agreement, and the GPH – MILF Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) signed on March 24, 2014.

All these agreements have already been consolidated into one, the Bangsamoro Basic Law crafted by the Expanded BTC.



In conclusion, the BTC commissioners adopted a resolution address to the senate with a cover letter copy furnish the Office of the President the observations made, and request the Senate to sponsor the bill crafted by the Expanded Bangsamoro Transition Commission.

http://www.luwaran.com/news/article/1156/btc-holds-6th-plenary-session-amidst-bbl-deliberations-by-congress

MILF: "BBL promotes social justice, national unity and reconciliation ": Iqbal

Posted to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front Website (Jan 11): "BBL promotes social justice, national unity and reconciliation ": Iqbal



“Bangsamoro Basic Law promotes Social Justice, National Unity and Reconciliation, and discussed its opportunities and challenges,” MILF Peace Implementing Chair Mohagher Iqbal stressed to the participants of CSO, NGO leaders Consultation - Dialogue on Promoting Peace, and Prevention of Violent Extremism conducted by CBCS with funding support from UNDP held at Estosan Hotel, Cotabato City on January 8 - 11, 2018 which culminate today.

Iqbal in his opening statement asked, "What did the MILF, and the government tried to solve when they agreed to negotiate in January 1997? We agreed to solve the Bangsamoro problem.

Bangsamoro problem in his discussion involves a wide variety of social, cultural, economic, and political issues and concerns on: ancestral domain, displaced and Landless Bangsamoro, destruction of properties, and war victims, human rights issues, social and cultural discrimination, corruption of the mind, and the moral fiber, economic inequities and widespread poverty, exploitation of natural resources, agrarian related issues and other societal divides.

But Iqbal argued that addressing these issues, and concerns will not solve the Bansamoro problem because the core of the problem is about the grant of genuine self – governance, and the establishment of a system of life and governance suitable, and acceptable to the Bangsamoro people, and the formula as contained in the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

He also argued that BBL does not only promotes social justice but is all about social justice, and it addresses the legitimate grievances of the Bangsamoro people committed against them by the changing regimes in Manila starting from the Americans down to the Filipino administrations. It is also a menu to correct historical injustices against them that led to the loss of sovereignty, their homeland, and development as people.

Likewise, it is an effective measure to ensure national unity, and cohesiveness of this country, and a menu to prevent the spread of violent extremism particularly in Mindanao.

Chair Iqbal also stressed that Bangsamoro Basic Law may result in healing, and reconciliation considering that it takes into full account the legitimate interest, and concerns of the various groups in the Bangsamoro namely, the Moros, indigenous people, migrant settlers, and other sectors of society on their basic rights, representation in the parliament, and government, sharing of resources and justice system.

“The opportunity to pass the BBL is now present considering that unity among MNLF, and MILF are going strong. The passage of BBL is a key to arrest the frustration of the Bangsamoro people, and likewise empowers them. They can effectively check the spread of violent radicalization in Mindanao. " Bangsamoro Basic Law is an antidote to secession, " he concluded.

http://www.luwaran.com/news/article/1157/--bbl-promotes-social-justice--national-unity-and-reconciliation----iqbal

MILF: BTC urges senate to file its proposed BBL

Posted to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front Website (Jan 12): BTC urges senate to file its proposed BBL



The Bangsamoro Transition Commission is urging the Senate to file the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) which was drafted by the former since June 2017.

During its 6th plenary session held on January 8 and 9, the Commission passed a resolution asking the Senate leadership to have someone file and sponsor the BTC-drafted BBL and to use the latter as its working document in its deliberation.

 

At present, there are two separate bills (Senate Bill No. 1608 and Senate Bill No. 1635) filed by Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, respectively. The Committees on Local Government and Constitutional Amendments & Revision of Codes are handling the bills.

A Sub-committee on the Bangsamoro Basic Law was created which is being chaired by Sen. Zubiri. It has already conducted its first public hearing last December 20 and another one is scheduled this coming January 17.

The BTC, however, would not attend the 2nd public hearing since, as Chairman Jaafar said in his letter to Sen. Zubiri, “they are not the bills crafted by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission pursuant to E.O. No. 08 series of 2016 signed by the President on November 7, 2016.”

Chairman Jaafar said that the commissioners could become resource persons to future public hearings once the said resolution is acted upon.

In its resolution, the BTC noted that the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office formally endorsed the BTC-drafted BBL to the Senate and House of Representatives last August 14. The resolution also cited the inclusion of the BTC-drafted BBL as priority administration bill during the September 20, 2017 LEDAC (Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council) meeting.

On September 26, the BTC-drafted BBL was filed as House Bill 6475 with Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez as principal sponsor.

Congress will resume its session on January 15.

Other resolutions
In cognizance of prevailing social problems involving indigenous peoples in Maguindanao, the BTC created a Task Force on Reconciliation and Unification. It would study issues and concerns on security and land conflict involving indigenous peoples, Maguindanaons and Christian settlers in the Province of Maguindanao.

The Task Force shall make recommendations to the Commission in addressing the problems.

Similarly, a Task Force Ranaw was also created to “conduct dialogue and coordinate with relevant government agencies and NGOs in support of the Bangsamoro peace process.”

The composition of both Task Forces would be determined by the BTC Chairman.

The Commission also passed a resolution expressing its appreciation and gratitude to all the individuals and groups who contributed to the success of the November 27, 2017 Bangsamoro Assembly.

 

http://www.luwaran.com/news/article/1158/btc-urges-senate-to-file-its-proposed-bbl

CPP/NPA-ST: Rehimeng US-Duterte, ibabagsak ng lumalakas na pagkakaisa ng sambayanan

NPA-Southern Tagalog propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines Website (Jan 12): Rehimeng US-Duterte, ibabagsak ng lumalakas na pagkakaisa ng sambayanan

Jaime “Ka Diego” Padilla, Spokesperson
NPA-Southern Tagalog (Melito Glor Command)

11 January 2018

Ang pahayag kahapon ni Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana sa Camp Aguinaldo ay nagpapakita ng labis na takot ng rehimeng US-Duterte sa nabubuong lakas at pagkakaisa ng mamamayan. Ang totoo, natatakot ang rehimeng US-Duterte sa kakayahan ng mamamayang pabagsakin ang kanyang pasistang diktadura.

Sa harap ng lumalalang krisis pang-ekonomiya at panlipunan, lumalakas ang kahilingan ng sambayanang Pilipino na patalsikin at ibagsak si Duterte. Sa kabila ng walang tigil na pagpapabango gamit ang mga bayarang media outfit, social media at mga minanipulang sarbey ng Social Weather Station (SWS) at Pulse Asia, patuloy na umaalingasaw ang baho ng nabubulok na rehimeng US-Duterte. Wala na ang bisa ng mga gimik at pagyayabang ni Duterte na siya ay makamahirap matapos lansakang tuyain ang maralita at mahihirap na mamamayang Pilipino na lehitimong gumigiit ng kanilang demokratikong karapatan at karaingan.

Tanging ang kilusang rebolusyunaryo ang pwersang may kakayahang pagkaisahin ang iba’t ibang uri at sektor, indibidwal at organisasyon sa lipunang malakolonyal at malapyudal laban sa isang reaksyunaryo, pasista, tiraniko at maka-imperyalistang rehimen. Pinatunayan na ito sa kasaysayan nang patalsikin ng mamamayan ang pasistang diktadurang rehimeng US-Marcos at rehimeng US-Estrada.

Mananatiling isang pangangarap na gising ng rehimeng US-Duterte ang plano nitong lipulin ang rebolusyunaryong kilusan sa pagtatapos ng 2018. Hibang na hibang si Duterte sa sobrang kagustuhan at paghahangad na makapaghari nang matagal sa bansa. Sa kabila ng mababangis na pahayag at pagbabanta ni Duterte, patuloy na lalaban ang mamamayang Pilipino at pababagsakin ang kanyang pasistang rehimen. Hindi papayag ang sambayanang Pilipino na salaulain ni Duterte ang mga tagumpay ng bayan sa pagpapabagsak sa diktadurang Marcos.

Dahil mismo sa pasismo ng estado at ipinapataw niyang maka-imperyalistang mga patakaran, ihinihiwalay mismo ni Duterte ang kanyang sarili sa mamamayan. Patuloy na sinusuportahan at tinatangkilik ng sambayanang Pilipino ang rebolusyunaryong kilusang pinamumunuan ng Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Patuloy at largadong inilulunsad ng New Peoples Army (NPA) ang paparami at papalaking mga taktikal na opensiba laban sa reaksyunaryo, berdugo at mersenaryong tropa ng Armed Forces of the Philippines-Philippine National Police at mga pwersang paramilitar. Tinatamasa ng NPA ang papalawak at papalalim na suporta ng baseng masa sa kanayunan at kalusuran ng bansa. Patuloy na bubuklurin ng National Democratic Front (NDF) ang malawak na masang Pilipino sa paglaban sa pasistang rehimeng US-Duterte. Kung gayon, tuluy-tuloy ang paglakas ng CPP-NPA-NDF at ng armadong pakikibaka sa Luzon, Visayas at Mindanao araw-araw, taliwas sa pahayag ni Lorenzana na humihina na ang ito.

Nanawagan ang Melito Glor Command NPA Southern Tagalog sa mamamayang Pilipino na maging matalino at kritikal sa bawat pahayag ng reaksyunaryong gubyerno. Habang sinisiraan ang rebolusyonaryong kilusan ng mga tagapagtanggol ng rehimeng Duterte, patuloy lamang na nalalantad ang tunay na katangian ng reaksyunaryo, pasista at tiranikong rehimeng US-Duterte.

Napapanahon na upang sama-sama nating patalsikin at ibagsak ang rehimeng US-Duterte sa harap ng patuloy na kabaliwan nito. Dapat magbuklod ang lahat ng inaaping mamamayan, mga progresibo at makabayang organisasyon, patriyotikong indibidwal at grupo at mga kritiko ni Duterte para ilunsad ang malawakang kampanya upang ibagsak ang rehimeng US-Duterte. Sa pamamagitan lamang nito makakamit ng mamamayan ang hinahangad nitong pagbabagong panlipunan.

https://www.philippinerevolution.info/statements/20180111-rehimeng-us-duterte-ibabagsak-ng-lumalakas-na-pagkakaisa-ng-sambayanan

CPP/NPA-SM: NPA declares deputy police chief as POW, slams illegal arrest of farmers in North Cotabato

NPA-Southern Mindanao propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines Website (Jan 12): NPA declares deputy police chief as POW, slams illegal arrest of farmers in North Cotabato

Rigoberto F. Sanchez, Spokesperson
NPA-Southern Mindanao

12 January 2018

Red fighters under the Mt. Apo Sub-Regional Command arrested Police Inspector Menardo Nisperos Cui, PNP Badge No. 0-28281, on December 28, 2017 in Brgy. Poblacion, Pres. Roxas in North Cotabato and subsequently declared him NPA Prisoner of War.

The Regional Operations Command of the NPA in Southern Mindanao likewise condemns the illegal arrests of farmers Jarold Adiaton, Jean Solis and Datu Maylan Andas in Brgy. Balite and Brgy. Temporan in Magpet on January 9.

At 4:00 in the morning, the joint forces of 39th IB, 15th IB and PNP simultaneously conducted unlawful search of several civilian homes Brgy. Balite. Residents have reported missing possessions after soldiers stormed and rummaged their houses while some civilians were physically assaulted and held at gunpoint. The families of Adiaton and Solis said that the soldiers planted improvised explosives during their search as an excuse to arrest the two farmers. In desperation, the fascist AFP are falsely accusing Adiaton and Solis of being members of the NPA and interrogating them on the whereabouts of POW Cui.

POW Cui, 48, is the designated Deputy Police Chief of Pres. Roxas Municipal PNP. A 9mm pistol was seized from his possession during his arrest. He is currently being investigated for his counterinsurgency activities and possible crimes against the masses and the revolutionary movement. As a legitimate exercise of belligerent political authority on behalf of the People’s Democratic Government, the NPA is tasked to arrest, detain and investigate personnel of the reactionary armed forces who are actively engaged in the armed conflict.

POW Cui, as with other previous prisoners of war, is being given political education that includes short courses on the history and problems of Philippine society and the need for people’s war while under the custody of the NPA. Under guerilla conditions, he is treated with leniency and provided with all basic needs in accordance to NPA rules of discipline, the CARHRIHL and other international conventions.

In a video released by the NPA-SMROC, POW Cui shared his experience regarding the commendable treatment of his custodial force. He also reflected on the people’s war, the need for armed struggle, and why the counterinsurgency campaign Oplan Kapayapaan is bound to fail in the face of the people’s contempt of the Duterte regime, especially the Armed Forces of the Philippines. POW Cui appealed to Pres. Duterte to resume talks with the NDFP and for the AFP to suspend military operations to make way for his safe release. He also assured his family of being treated well by the NPA.

Meanwhile, under the auspices of martial law, AFP and PNP troops in North Cotabato are presently going berserk in launching combat and pursuit operations in the towns of Arakan and Magpet, leaving a trail of human rights violations against civilian farmers and Lumad in their wake. Fresh from rampaging Marawi, the newly-deployed soldiers of 15th IB, along with the 39th IB and paramilitary Bagani, are terrorizing civilians in the hinterlands of the two towns.

The mettle of discipline that the NPA demonstrates with regards to its prisoners of war stands in stark contrast to the reactionary armed forces’ deplorable treatment of political prisoners languishing in various jails around the country. The abject conditions which these political prisoners are being made to suffer, notwithstanding the fabricated charges that supposedly led to their arrests, bear witness to the state of injustice that continues to victimize the Filipino people, especially under the fascist US-Duterte regime.

The NPA in the region calls on all peace advocates and human rights defenders to join the demand for the unconditional and immediate release of the three farmers in Magpet and all political prisoners in the country.

https://www.philippinerevolution.info/statements/20180112-npa-declares-deputy-police-chief-as-pow-slams-illegal-arrest-of-farmers-in-north-cotabato

CPP/CPP-Information Bureau: On AFP’s grand delusion of reducing “half” of the NPA

CPP Information Bureau propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines Website (Jan 11): On AFP’s grand delusion of reducing “half” of the NPA

Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

11 January 2018

Much like its president, the AFP is delusional in saying that it will finish off the NPA or in AFP chief Rey Guererro’s reprise, reduce the NPA “by half” by the middle of 2018. The AFP chief made his boast in direct contradiction to DND Lorenzana’s statement that finishing off the NPA in one year is “far-fetched” in an obvious attempt to justify extending martial law beyond 2018. Lorenzana himself is delusional in believing that uniting with other anti-Duterte forces makes the CPP “bankrupt.” His statement only betrays the AFP and Duterte’s fear of such an alliance.

Contrary to what they want to believe, Duterte is bound to outdo the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in becoming the best recruiter for the New People’s Army. Unwittingly, Duterte and the AFP are also best suppliers of new arms for the armed revolution as they squander billions of pesos on new weapons and materiel. NPA units will strive to seize more of these weapons by launching more and bigger tactical offensives.

Duterte’s triple wars of death and destruction against the Filipino and Moro peoples, as well as his anti-people, pro-oligarch and pro-imperialist policies, spell his doom. Coupled with his naked ambition to install a fascist dictatorship and monopolize bureaucratic loot and power, Duterte is bound to grow more isolated as he rides roughshod over the institutions which his opponents have vowed to defend.

As such, Duterte is providing the New People’s Army and the revolutionary movement an ever more fertile ground for the people’s war to grow and prosper.
https://www.philippinerevolution.info/statements/20180111-on-afps-grand-delusion-of-reducing-half-of-the-npa

Rightist [sic] groups renew calls for Palparan’s conviction

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 12): Rightist [sic] groups renew calls for Palparan’s conviction

Rightist groups Pamilya ng Desaparecidos Para sa Katarungan (Desaparecidos) and Pagkakaisa ng mga Biktima Para sa Hustisya (Hustisya) staged a picket rally in front of the Bulacan Regional Trial Court (RTC) Thursday to reiterate their call for the conviction of retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr.

Palparan, with his three co-accused Lt. Col. Felipe Anotado Jr. (ret.); M/Sgt. Rizal Hilario (at large) and S/Sgt. Edgardo Osorio, were all charged with kidnapping and serious illegal detention filed by the victims’ mothers, Linda Cadapan and Conie Empeno from Hagonoy, Bulacan.

The former military officer and his co-accused were with their legal counsel Atty. Arturo Cabides while the victims ' relatives were with their counsel Atty. Jun Oliva at the hearing of the case at the sala of RTC Branch 15 Judge Alexander Tamayo.

Palparan and the mothers of the victims Sherilyn Cadapan, 29, and Karen Empeno, 26, faced-off during the initial presentation of accused's evidence.

During the hearing, Anotado was presented as the witness of Palparan where he stressed that they have not met nor had a talk regarding any plan to abduct Cadapan and Empeno.

The two victims, both University of the Philippines (UP) students, were abducted while doing their thesis in Hagonoy town in 2006.

They have not surfaced since then and are both believed to have been victims of extrajudicial killing.

Palparan and his three co-accused were tagged by brothers Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo as the culprits in the abduction of Cadapan and Empeno.

Evangeline Hernandez, 58, chair of the Hustisya said the Manalo brothers were also allegedly abducted by the same Palparan-led group and were hid in different detachments and safe houses before they managed to escape somewhere in Pangasinan, also in 2006.

The Manalo brothers also filed a case against Palparan and stood as witnesses during the hearing on the case of Cadapan and Empeno.

The Manalos revealed that they saw Cadapan and Empeno in a safe house where they were also kept and there were times they also saw Palparan and his men.

The victims’ counsel Oliva said that the next and last hearing is scheduled on February 15 this year.

The victims’ mothers said if the court will base its decision on the pieces of evidence presented by witnesses, the accused will be convicted.

"This year, we hope that the case will be finally resolved soon. It has been a long ordeal for us and all of Palparan's victims. We want to see him in jail this year," Cadapan said.

Conie, the mother of victim Karen, together with other victims of human rights violations, reiterated their demand for Palparan to be transferred from Fort Bonifacio to the Bulacan Provincial Jail in Malolos.

"Murderer Palparan should be in a regular jail with other common criminals. His conviction on the disappearance of our daughters should make him accountable for many cases of killings, abduction, torture and other rights violations. He has been enjoying special treatment from the state for too long," Empeno said.

The entire provincial capitol grounds were secured with some 50 personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police during the hearing.

 http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1021456

Army receives more NPA members, supporters in DavOr

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 12): Army receives more NPA members, supporters in DavOr

The Philippine Army (PA) has continued to receive members of the New People’s Army (NPA) and their mass supporters who decided to abandon the communist struggle.

A new group of NPA supporters known to locals as “masa” has pledged allegiance to the government after surrendering to the soldiers of 28th Infantry battalion under 701st Infantry brigade after a grand pulong-pulong in Barangay Tubaon, Tarragona, Davao Oriental.

Capt. Andrew Linao, civil-military operations (CMO) officer of Army’s 701st Infantry Brigade based in Mati city, said the grand pulong pulong in Barangay Tubaon had opened the surrenderers minds and decided to surrender.

Linao said 59 mass supporters abandoned the communist struggle.

Last year, there were about 700 NPA members who surrendered to the government, were presented to President Rodrigo Duterte at the Eastern Mindanao Command in Panacan last December. High-powered firearms were also surrendered to the military.

Linao said the new group of surrenderers will undergo briefing and psychological interventions. But the military is expecting more because there were names mentioned during the pulong-pulong who wanted to surrendered.

"We advise them to proceed to the municipality of Tarragona and surrender to clear their names," he added.

The mass surrender was a joint effort of the soldiers of 28th IB and the local government in the area to help those NPA regular members and supporters to lead normal and peaceful life.

"So basically the people see that the local government unit and us (the soldiers) help each other to convince them," he added. But Linao clarified that supporters cannot avail of the government’s Comprehensive Local Integrated Program (CLIP) but they will undergo peace building seminar for as another government intervention.

Last year, the 28th IB scored with the arrest of the regular members of the NPA as an outcome of the military’s good relations with the community.

The strength of the community through the AFP community support program in Davao Oriental prevented the NPA to conduct atrocities and endanger the lives of the people in the communities.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1021418

More Lumad rebels yield to Army in Sultan Kudarat

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 12): More Lumad rebels yield to Army in Sultan Kudarat

Nine more members of Indigenous Peoples (IPs) recruited by communist New Peoples’ Army (NPA) have surrendered to military authorities as the Army continue winning the battle against the left here, an Army official said.

Lt. Colonel Harold Cabunoc, Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion (IB) commander, said the NPA’s Guerilla Front 73 has been weakened with its depleting human resources and firepower.

The Lumads in the mountain villages of Sen. Ninoy Aquino, according to Cabunoc, are tired of harassment and extortion activities of the communist movement.

“They now realized fighting the government is a lost cause,” Cabunoc told reporters.

1st Lt. Cesar Ballado of the 33rd IB welcomed the remnants of Guerilla Front 73 who have long desired to return to the mainstream but were hiding in the border communities of Palimbang and Sen. Ninoy Aquino towns for fear their comrades would execute them.

A week-long negotiation jointly conducted by the 33rd IB, Marine Battalion Landing Team 6 and local government of Sen. Ninoy Aquino; led to the surrender of the latest batch of NPA rebels.

On Thursday, the rebels found the opportunity to hike for five hours to reach the nearest village to the town center where they were welcomed by Ballado and other 33rd IB troopers.

Without naming the surrenderees, Ballado said they turned over two US made Garand rifles, ammunition, three hand grenades, a cal. 45 pistol, and bandolier to authorities.

As of Thursday, a total of 103 Lumad members of the Guerilla Front 73, FSMRC have laid down their arms through the initiative of the 33rd IB.

Major Gen. Arnel dela Vega, 6th Infantry Division commander, lauded the 33rd IB for reaching out to Lumads duped by communist rebels into fighting a lost cause against the government.

He vowed to intensify efforts against rebels but open its arms for those who would like to reform and avail of the government amnesty program.

Cabunoc said Sultan Kudarat Governor Pax Mangudadatu has been supportive in the campaign of the military to bring back the IPs back to the mainstream and providing them with livelihood opportunities through the Comprehensive Local Integration Program.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1021352

BIFF bid to overrun Cotabato villages thwarted

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 13): BIFF bid to overrun Cotabato villages thwarted

Military authorities foiled attempts by IS-inspired Moro gunmen to overrun communities in North Cotabato in what the Army believed was a diversionary tactic to ease the heat of military offensives in the nearby Maguindanao province.

In a report Friday, Major General Arnel dela Vega, Army’s 6th Infantry Division (6ID) commander, said about 30 members of Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) tried to attack the village of Malagakit here at around 10 p.m. on Wednesday night.

“We expect them to harass civilian communities to divert military offensives in Datu Unsay and Datu Saudi Ampatuan,” Dela Vega said, adding that Army intelligence community monitored the BIFF plot to attack the village of Malagakit, a farming village at the borders of North Cotabato and Maguindanao.

Capt. Arvin John Encinas, 6ID spokesman, said dela Vega immediately ordered the deployment of 34th Infantry Battalion personnel in Barangay Malagakit.

At past 10 p.m., about 30 BIFF, under a certain Commander Aguila, arrived in the village using motorized boat through the Rio Grande de Mindanao.

The Army, backed by artillery, fired at the approaching BIFF rebels, triggering an hour-long firefight, until the gunmen fled deep into the marshland of Maguindanao.

Before leaving, the armed men harassed adjacent village of Bulacaon, also in Pigcawayan, sending residents fleeing.

Barangay Bulucaon Chair Mark John Montales said all his constituents were accounted for and nobody was hurt when the gunmen strafed the sub-village of Marquez.

Overnight, the Army rained the fleeing rebels with mortars and howitzers.

“Four houses abandoned by residents were ransacked by the armed men,” Montales said.

Also, two residents were abducted and used as “guides” by the gunmen and later released.

Pigcawayan Municipal Administrator Jezler Garcesa said classes were suspended Thursday in Pigcawayan West District composed of three elementary and three secondary schools. Classes resumed Friday.

He said at least 34 families or 85 individuals from Barangays Malagakit and Bulacaon have evacuated to safer grounds. They have been provided with relief assistance.

On June 17 last year, the BIFF attacked Barangay Malagakit and Bulacaon, destroyed elementary school and a chapel, killed a farmer and a militiaman and torched several homes.

CAFGU Abraham Kutay was killed in the firefights that left two other militiamen, Angelo Verona and Resty Segundara, wounded. A civilian was killed in front of his horrified wife and children in Barangay Malagakit.

During military operations, at least eight BIFF were killed and the two villages have been liberated. The attack in two villages came amid military operations against IS inspired group in Marawi City.

Government forces have killed 10 BIFF members, including a bomber trained by slain Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, in Datu Unsay, Maguindanao.

The military launched air strikes and ground assaults against the BIFF after they attacked military installations in Mt. Firis, Barangay Maytumaig, Datu Unsay, Maguindanao on December 25. The conflict led the evacuation off some 800 Teduaray families to safer grounds.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1021493

AFP ‘delusional’ in finishing off Reds in a year—CPP

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Jan 12): AFP ‘delusional’ in finishing off Reds in a year—CPP
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is “delusional” for saying it will finish off or reduce the current strength of communist rebels in 2018, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said Friday.

“The AFP is delusional in saying that it will finish off the New People’s Army or in AFP chief Rey Guerrero’s reprise, reduce the NPA ‘by half’ in the middle of 2018,” the CPP said in a statement.

Early this week, Guerrero said their 2018 goal is to weaken the communist rebels by half of its 3,700 fighters.

READ: DND hits CPP for ordering comrades to bring down Duterte

The communist party said the AFP chief’s promise was also contrary to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana’s statement that finishing off the rebels in a year is “far-fetched.”

“Lorenzana himself is delusional in believing that uniting with other anti-Duterte forces makes the CPP ‘bankrupt,’” the CPP said.

“His statement only betrays the AFP and Duterte’s fear of such an alliance. Contrary to what they want to believe, Duterte is bound to outdo the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in becoming the best recruiter for the NPA,” it added.

As the AFP procures more weapons and material, the CPP said its fighters “will strive to seize more of these weapons by launching more and bigger tactical offensives.”

The NPA has also been the target of the extended martial law in Mindanao after the peace talks collapsed and President Rodrigo Duterte tagged them as “terrorist organizations.”

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/959688/afp-delusional-in-finishing-off-reds-in-a-year-cpp-afp-cpp-npa-rebels-communism-military

Former army chief named BCDA director Friday

From the Sun Star-Manila (Jan 12): Former army chief named BCDA director Friday

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has appointed retired Philippine Army chief Lieutenant General Glorioso MIranda as member of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority's (BCDA) Board of Directors.

Malacañang on Friday, January 12, released Miranda's appointment papers, which were signed by Duterte on January 9.

In October 2016, Duterte said he wanted to appoint Miranda as BCDA board member to help him in his bid to eradicate corruption within the agency.

Duterte, in a speech delivered on October 5, 2017, said: "I really salute General Miranda. That's why automatic, he will be a member of the board of this (BCDA). There is no military man running that agency. I need somebody there from your sector to see how it is being run. Now, there is corruption. You can flog (those involved in corruption)."

Under Bases Conversion and Development Act, BCDA is a government instrumentality vested with corporate powers. It enters into public-private partnerships for the implementation of public infrastructure projects.

Miranda, a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1983, was appointed acting chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in April 2016.

 He also served as Philippine Army chief and former commander of AFP's Nothern Luzon Command.

Apart from Miranda, Duterte on January 9 also appointed Pelagio Paguican and Nestor Jardin as board members of the Philippine Postal Corporation and Cultural Center of the Philippines, respectively.

Read more: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2018/01/12/former-army-chief-named-bcda-director-583582
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OPAPP pushing peace process with Reds quietly, unofficially —Dureza

From GMA News (Jan 12): OPAPP pushing peace process with Reds quietly, unofficially —Dureza

The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process has been conducting “quiet, unofficial” ways of advancing the peace process with communist rebels, peace adviser Secretary Jesus Dureza said Friday.

But he clarified that no backchannel negotiations have taken place since peace talks were terminated in November last year.

“The work of OPAPP is to look for ways and means to move the peace process forward. So we’re doing that but in a very unofficial and quiet way, because we have to take the directive coming from no less than the President,” said Dureza in an interview on Bloomberg TV Philippines on Thursday.

However, Dureza did not elaborate on what the OPAPP is quietly doing for the peace process.
Asked if the government and the left have carried out backchannel talks, Dureza said: “Nothing at all, in deference to the President’s directive."

He also reiterated that while the OPAPP has to comply with President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to cancel peace talks with the left, the doors to peace “have not been totally shut.”

Duterte has excluded the National Democratic Front, the political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines, from his terrorist tag, and some observers see hope for peace in the "omission."

But Dureza said, “...If that is the reading of the public, then we can affirm that the doors have not been totally shut and we will still continue working on that but we have to take the clear directive of the president right now."

He said peace negotiations are not the only path to peace, citing a “culture of peace,” “social healing of relationships” marred by conflict, and “taking care of victims of conflict.”

Duterte called off peace negotiations with communist rebels—for the third time—in November after what Dureza called “tragic and violent incidents” carried out by the left’s armed group despite ongoing talks.

Within days, the President also declared the CPP-NPA as a terrorist organization, a move a left-leaning lawmaker considers a “death warrant” for all Duterte dissenters, communist or not.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/639468/opapp-pushing-peace-process-with-reds-quietly-unofficially-dureza/story/

3 suspected NPA rebels nabbed in North Cotabato

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Jan 11): 3 suspected NPA rebels nabbed in North Cotabato

Authorities on Thursday said they had arrested three suspected New People’s Army (NPA) members, who might have been involved in the 2012 murder of a Swiss-Filipino trader and the January 6 killing of a former Presidential Security Group (PSG) in North Cotabato.

Lt. Col. Harold Argamosa, commander of the Army’s 39th Infantry Battalion, said soldiers and policemen made the arrests in Barangay Balite in Magpet, North Cotabato on Tuesday.

He said the suspects, Harold Adiaton and Ian Solis alias “Iyan,” were both active members of the NPA’s Special Partisan Unit (Sparu); while Dandan Mailan Andas, alias “Dodong,” was a recruiter under the Guerrilla Front 53 of the NPA’s Southern Mindanao Regional Committee.

“Dandan is a known recruiter of the communist movement and a member of a kangaroo court (an irregular unauthorized court) of the underground mass base of the NPA as revealed by former NPA surrenderees,” Argamosa said.

 He said Adiaton and Solis had a hand in the January 6 killing of Technical Sergeant Ronel Galupo in Magpet town.

He said as operatives of the NPA’s Merardo Arce Command, the duo were also behind the March 2012 murder of Swiss-Filipino Patrick Weinneger in Kidapawan City.
The Merardo Arce Command had earlier owned up to Weinneger’s killing, saying he “was punished for his involvement in the killing of Italian missionary priest Fausto Tentorio in Arakan, North Cotabato” in October 2011.

Argamosa said Solis and Adiaton were also probably behind the killing of Bernabe “Bantito” Abanilla, the chief of North Cotabato’s civil security unit, who was shot dead in February 2016 in Arakan.

The duo’s other victims, he said, included another Army sergeant, a village councilor of Mahongcog, Magpet and a vendor.

The three suspected rebels were detained at the Magpet police lockup cell.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/959365/3-suspected-npa-rebels-nabbed-in-north-cotabato

Troops seize 9 high-powered firearms from NPA in Davao del Sur

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Jan 12): Troops seize 9 high-powered firearms from NPA in Davao del Sur


 Photo from the 73rd Infantry Battalion

Members of the Philippines Army’s 73rd and 72nd Infantry Battalions confiscated nine high-powered firearms from communist rebels after a brief encounter in Magsaysay, Davao del Sur.

In a statement on Friday, Lt. China Castro, civil military operations officer of the 73rd Infantry Battalion (73IB), said the soldiers were conducting a checkpoint in Brgy. Tacul when four members of the New People’s Army (NPA) aboard two motorcycles approached the station and fired at the government troops, which led to a 10-minute firefight past 11 p.m. on Thursday.

The rebels left behind the high-powered firearms and other munitions as they tried to escape.

The confiscated high-powered firearms included six M16 rifles, two AK47 rifles, and one M14 rifle. Soldiers likewise seized one IED, assorted ammunition and magazines, and 2 Honda TMX motorcycles after the skirmish.

“We have been gaining grounds and materiel against the NPA due to our relentless combat operations,” said Lt. Col. Marion Angcao, commanding officer of 73IB.

“This is also a manifestation that NPA-planned terroristic activities against military, police, and civilians were pre-empted due to pro-active measures we have been conducting with the help of the communities who despise conflict, terrorism and extortion,” Angcao added.   

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/959636/troops-seize-9-high-powered-firearms-from-npa-in-davao-del-sur

Opinion: ‘The telco duopoly has become the CPP-NPA’s biggest funder’

Opinion piece in the Manila Times (Jan 12): ‘The telco duopoly has become the CPP-NPA’s biggest funder’  (By RIGOBERTO D. TIGLAO)

THE country’s telecommunications duopoly, consisting of PLDT-Smart and Globe Telecom, has become the biggest single source of financing for the Communist Party and its terrorist group, the New People’s Army, sources at the highest levels of government disclosed.

The sources claimed that since the start of this decade, the telcos have capitulated to the CPP-NPA’s demands for extortion money so that it will not destroy or damage their 20,000 cell towers spread all over the country, many of which are in far-flung areas too distant for the police or the military to protect.

That certainly explains why attacks on telcos’ cell-sites have dramatically gone down to practically none in the past several years, from about one each month before.

The telcos have calculated that it is cheaper to pay the NPA than hire heavily armed private security guards, who have proven again and again to be so quick to surrender to communist terrorists. “The NPA in many instances, didn’t even have to fight the security guards,” a source said. “The NPA simply tells them they will attack the site, and the security guards abandon their posts. Why shouldn’t they?”

The source estimated that based on reports on the ground on the actual payments, the two telcos may have been giving as much as P3 billion yearly to the CPP-NPA, a huge part of which are received directly by their top leaders.



He’s definitely grateful to telcos: NPA spokesman Ka Diego at a press conference.

The accuracy of this estimate is bolstered by data reported in a study on the armed conflict in Bicol published way back in 2006 by the economic think-tank Philippine Institute of Development Studies. The study reported that in the Bicol provinces, the NPA had been demanding “P50,000 to P200,000 as yearly tax per site, and as much as P500,000 for a newly set up cell site.”

P200,000 per cell site
This rate of “revolutionary taxes” would compute—at an average of P200,000 per cell site for the telcos’ roughly 10,000 cell-sites in far-flung areas—to P2 billion per year in CPP-NPA revenues. But that was the rate reported 11 years ago.

The study noted that the telcos may have been willing to pay the “revolutionary tax,” as the “cost of damage from the bombing of the cell site ranges from P1 million to P2 million per cell site, if only the base is destroyed.“ “If the entire cell site is destroyed, the cost of rebuilding it may be anywhere between P10 and P20 million,” according to the study.

“Smart and Globe are said to be the biggest sources of revolutionary tax of the NPAs in Bicol,” the study asserted. My sources claim they have become such for the entire insurgency.

The communists and the telco foreign capitalists appear to have forged an alliance very much mutually beneficial.

“Whether they chose to put up their camps near the cellsites, or the telcos put up cellsites at their request near their camps, we can’t say, but major NPA encampments usually have strong cell signals that their commanders rely a lot on mobile phones and use the internet a lot,” a military intelligence source said.

That the CPP-NPA gets P3 billion annually from the telcos would explain why it has been totally silent in exposing and opposing not only the monopoly nature of the telcos, but the fact that these are owned by foreign monopolists.

Mao Zedong tenet

The notion that Third World countries’ poverty is due to foreign control of its industries has been a major tenet of Marxism and “Mao Zedong Thought,” the communists’ ideology.

The CPP’s bible, Amado Guerrero’s Philippine Society and Revolution (PSR) as well as its basic document, “Program for a People’s Democratic Revolution” emphasize that the “people’s twin enemies are foreign monopolists and feudalism.” PSR, when it was published in 1970, even had an annex that listed all of the foreign-controlled firms in the country, which the book implied were legitimate targets of the revolution. Its National Democratic Front’s demands on government as contained in its draft of the “Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER)” includes one for the state to prohibit “foreign monopoly control of strategic industries,” of which telecommunications indisputably is one.

Yet there has not been a single sentence or statement in the CPP and the NPA’s publications, nor those of its front organizations and sympathetic research outfits—such as Ibon Databank. the UP’s Third World Studies Center, and the news website bulatlat.com—condemning the foreign control through PLDT-Smart and Globe Telecom of our telecoms industry.

The biggest owners of PLDT are the Indonesian tycoon Anthoni Salim and the mammoth Japanese firm NTT.

 Globe Telecom’s biggest shareholder is the Singaporean state through SingTel. Aside from these, some 20 percent of each firm is owned by foreign passive shareholders in the stock market, or those who the communists describe as tools of financial imperialism, which they term as “the highest form of capitalism.”

That the Filipino communists are silent about the foreign-controlled duopoly in exchange for P3 billion yearly is of course another instance of their ideological bankruptcy and innate political opportunism.

Financed by elites
This is really not a new development but has been an essential feature of the Philippines’ communist insurgency: it had been financed quite ironically by exploitative elites, rather than, as the communists’ propaganda has it, by the masses.

The CPP-NPA grew in the years before martial law because of the massive financial and logistical support by the Aquino-Cojuangco clan and other anti-Marcos tycoons. The rallies organized by the CPP in the Philippines in the 1970s before martial law was declared were bankrolled by several of such billionaires – I know as I was for a while with the financial unit that collected the money from such “sympathizers,” whom we categorized as the “enlightened national bourgeoisie.”

In the 1980s the NPA’s biggest financial supporters were loggers, which they protected and thus helped in the denudation of many of the country’s forests. In the 1990s when logging operations were limited and later banned by government, the CPP-NPA’s biggest financier were the mining firms, which were “taxed’ per hauler and bulldozer used in their operations. “It is not coincidental that the NPA’s bases have been in such areas as Samar and Surigao which have had many mining operations,” a military source said.

Since the turn of the century, with the mining industry slowing down because of government regulations, the telcos needing to keep their cell-sites intact have become the CPP-NPA’s biggest financiers.

Indeed, as in the case of Colombia where the Marxist insurgency was financed by cocaine planters and drug lords, the communist insurgency in the country grew not because of their ideology and political line that generated people’s support but because of the huge financial support by factions of the elite.

“It’s hard to be optimistic that the Duterte’ administration will crush the terrorist NPA if it continues to get such huge funds,” said an army general.

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Email: tiglao.manilatimes@gmail.com
Facebook: Rigoberto Tiglao
Twitter: @bobitiglao

http://www.manilatimes.net/telco-duopoly-become-cpp-npas-biggest-funder/373733/

Long trial expected in declaring CPP-NPA as terror group

From the Philippine Star (Jan 11): Long trial expected in declaring CPP-NPA as terror group

In this photo taken Nov. 23, 2016, members of the New People's Army communist rebels with face painted to conceal their identities, stand in formation during ceremonies before a news conference held at their guerrilla encampment tucked in the harsh wilderness. AP/File

Judicial proceedings to declare the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army as terrorist groups will take time, the Department of Justice, which will seek the formal declaration, said.

 

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said that the petition to declare the CPP and its armed wing NPA as terrorists would be filed in the coming week, a filing previously promised in past weeks.

"It is a full-blown trial, I believe... Hindi puwedeng madaliin (It cannot be rushed). They have to gather all the instances where terroristic activities could be attributed to the NPAs," Aguirre said in a press briefing at Malacañang.

Aguirre added that the filing was delayed due to the last minute consultation with the Office of the Executive Secretary and with intelligence agencies.

RELATED: DOJ to seek declaration of CPP-NPA as terrorist group

The Justice secretary said that they are expecting the communist group to resist the move as they would not want to be tagged as terrorists.

Some of the arrest warrants for the consultants of the National Democratic Front, which represents the CPP-NPA in peace talks, have also been lifted, according to Aguirre.

"If these consultants have been released because of the peace process, their bail has already been canceled. If sighted they will be arrested," Aguirre said.

In 2002, the United States had declared the CPP-NPA as a foreign terrorist organization. The CPP-NPA and the Abu Sayyaf Group are the only organizations from the Philippines that are included in the list.

In the Philippines, the Abu Sayyaf was the first group to be officially listed as a terrorist organization following the approval of the Basilan provincial court in 2015.

The declaration came five years after the DOJ filed a request.

http://beta.philstar.com/headlines/2018/01/11/1776794/long-trial-expected-declaring-cpp-npa-terror-group