Despite placing Mindanao under Martial Law, attacks by Communist rebels continued in Davao region all throughout the year as peace talks bogged down.
As 2018 opened, the New People’s Army claimed they launched five attacks against government forces in Davao Oriental from Dec. 28 to 30, leaving 24 soldiers dead.
On Jan. 7, NPA spokesperson Rigoberto Sanchez claimed that 16 soldiers were killed and two others were wounded in three attacks they staged against the Army’s 28th Infantry Battalion and Scout Rangers Company in sitios Gibaan and Bato-Bato in Barangay Tubaon, Tarragona on Dec. 28.
Sanchez said the NPA also clashed with government forces twice in Sitio Madian, also in Barangay Tubaon, which resulted in the killing of eight soldiers two days later.
But the military denied the heavy casualty.
Maj. Ezra Balagtey, public information officer of the Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMinCom), said only two soldiers died in the encounters.
The first attack of the year staged by the NPAs in Davao was on Jan. 13.
Heavily armed men forcibly took two boom trucks owned by Sumifru Corp. and one sprayer truck owned by TriStar in Barangay Manuel Guianga while the vehicles were travelling toward Barangay Tamayong, Calinan District.
The rebels held six workers and later burned the three spray trucks in Tamayong.
The Davao-based Japanese-owned Sumitomo Fruits Corporation (Sumifru), is engaged in exporting various fresh fruits -- bananas, pineapple and papaya. TriStar is said to be the banana exporting arm of the JVA Group owned by the Ayala family of Davao.
Lt. Col. Raymund Dante Lachica, commander of 3rd Infantry Battalion, said NPA members, under Ka Nasser, staged the attack.
The city’s business sector expressed alarm over the NPA attacks against the exporters.
Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) president Arturo Milan said the insurgency problem created a negative perception among new investors as conducive business and security environment influences their decision.
On Jan. 22, President Rodrigo Duterte, commander in chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), ordered his troops to “destroy the NPA” as he urged NPA guerrillas to “surrender.”
In a visit at the 10th Infantry Division in Camp General Manuel Yan Sr. in Mawab, Compostela Valley, Duterte stressed he and the Communist guerrillas used to be “good friends” but the latter, he said, has become so arrogant.
But the president admitted that he only tied up with the NPA because of the vote, saying no politician could win in the hinterlands if you do not befriend the NPA.
Then Eastmincom commander, now AFP chief of staff, General Benjamin Madrigal claimed on Jan. 23 that businesses in four regions of Mindanao lost P2.48 billion due to attacks and extortion activities by the NPA in 2017.
Four days later, a young army officer was killed while three others were wounded in a gunfight against the NPAs in Barangay Mapula, Paquibato District.
The casualty was identified as 1st Lt. Jarren Jay Relota, the commanding officer of the Bravo Company of the 16th Infantry Battalion.
Balagtey said Relota and his men went to Sitio Quimbao, Mapula after receiving reports that communist rebels were spotted in the area. An encounter ensued around 4 p.m.
A native of Antique, Relota was among the soldiers under the 16th IB based in Tanay, Rizal who were deployed to the city in 2016 after Mayor Sara Duterte requested the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for additional force to combat insurgency and terroristic attack in the city.
Also that day, President Duterte ordered Environment Sec. Roy Cimatu to cancel the permits of mining companies that are paying “revolutionary taxes” to the NPA.
On Feb. 6, 217 alleged NPA members who were reported to have surrendered to the government were flown to Manila for a two-day “educational tour” and dinner with President Rodrigo Duterte at the Malacañang Palace.
Balagtey said all 683 NPA surrenderers within the Eastmincom’s jurisdiction would all have the chance to meet and dine with the President in Malacanang but schedules have yet to be arranged for the other batches.
That day also, residents of Barangay Langgawisan in Maragusan, Compostela Valley fled their homes after alleged NPA members reportedly entered their communities.
Balagtey said the fleeing residents were holed up at the covered court and a school in Barangay Coronobe as soldiers were deployed to clear Langgawisan.
Residents returned home days later.
On Feb. 9, President Duterte said government forces will deal with the New People’s Army (NPA) and the ISIS-inspired groups like how the military and the police “reacted during the Marawi siege.”
In a press briefing at a local establishment here, Duterte also offered the Lumads (Indigenous Peoples) a bounty of P20,000 for every killed NPA guerilla.
On Feb. 20, the second batch of rebel returnees, numbering to 241, was flown to Malacanang for a scheduled dinner with President Duterte a day later.
On March 2, one of the three soldiers wounded during a clash in Calinan on February 26 in died in a hospital.
The fatality was identified as Corporal Jurel Gonato, a member of the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Battalion.
Gonato and two other soldiers were wounded as the rebels detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) in Barangay Tamayong, Calinan District.
On Black Saturday, March 31, rebels simultaneously attacked various quarry sites in the city and burned several heavy duty vehicles. It was two days after the NPA celebrated its 49th anniversary.
In Barangay Callawa, Buhangin District, the NPA burned five backhoes, four dump trucks and a bulldozer.
The rebels also burned one bulldozer and backhoe in Barangay Fatima, Paquibato District.
Another backhoe was also torched by the rebels in Barangay Dalagdag, Calinan District.
The communist guerillas left an estimated P65-million in damage during the simultaneous attacks.
On March 6, around 190 rebel returnees – the third batch -- flew to Manila to meet and dine with President Duterte.
On May 30, Elizalde Tormis "Ka Jinggoy" Canete, a top NPA leader in the region, arrived in the city to face the multiple charges filed against him.
Davao City Police Office director Sr. Supt. Alexander Tagum told reporters that Ka Jinggoy would be tried for a total of 12 criminal cases pending in different trial courts in Davao.
Kay Jinggoy, the commander of Pulang Bagani Company (PBC) 1 of the NPA’s Regional Operations Command, Southern Mindanao Regional Committee (SMRC), was arrested on May 12 at hospital in Don Carlos town in Bukidnon after he was wounded in a gun battle two days earlier.
On June 14, then Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza announced President Duterte canceled the talks scheduled on June 28-30 with the National Democratic Front – Philippines (NDFP) in Oslo, Norway because government wanted to hold consultations with stakeholders before forging agreements with the revolutionary group.
But the Communist Party of the Philippines said President Duterte cancelled the scheduled peace talks “to give the AFP more time to complete its military campaign plan for 2018 of mounting bigger offensives under Oplan Kapayapaan in the hope of crippling the NPA and inducing the NDFP to negotiate a surrender.”
On July 27, a police officer abducted in North Cotabato in January was brought to the Davao regional police command after he was released by the rebels.
At the police regional command, Insp. Menardo Nisperos Cui of Magpet, North Cotabato was greeted by his mother, Filomena.
On Sept. 21, city police arrested two suspected rebels, said to be members of an advance party for the “Red October” plot to oust President Rodrigo Duterte, in a raid at a safe house in Barangay Langub, Talomo District.
Six days later, Madrigal accused the Communist groups, especially those from Davao, to be involved in the alleged “Red October” plot.
But Suara Bangsamoro, a human rights group, dismissed such statement as “fake stories,” saying it only aims to gain public support for the military.
In his visit to Davao on Nov. 13, then AFP Chief of Staff General Carlito Galvez Jr. said the military would eliminate the NPA by 2019.
But Anakpawis Partylist Rep. Ariel Casilao said the military sounded like a broken record for always claiming that it could end the NPA.
On Nov. 26, police and army operatives engaged NPA rebels in a gunfight in Cemento, Barangay Talomo Proper in Talomo District.
The rebels were said to be those who escaped the Sept. 21 raid in Langub.
A day later, authorities arrested a group of militant group leaders and school officials for allegedly abducting and trafficking children in Talaingod, Davao del Norte. Those arrested include Bayan Muna leader Saturnino Ocampo and ACT-Teacher Rep. France Ocampo.
Claiming the group transported the 14 minors without parental consent, police filed kidnapping, human trafficking and child abuse.
The police and military claimed the communist groups are recruiting the children to become rebels.
But a judge in Tagum, Davao del Norte ordered the temporarily release of the accused after posting bail, despite the opposition of the police.
A court here also ordered the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to release the children to their parents saying the government agency has no authority to take custody of the children.
On Dec. 21, a family of three, said to be active NPA members, surrendered to the authorities.
They surrendered weapons that bear government markings, prompting the police and military to conduct an investigation why such government arms and ammunitions landed into the hands of the NPA.
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