Friday, January 4, 2019

NDF/Sison:On Duterte’s statement of being open to peace negotiations

Jose Maria Sison propaganda statement posted to the National Democratic Front Philippines (or NDF) Website (Jan 5, 2019): On Duterte’s statement of being open to peace negotiations

By Jose Maria Sison
NDFP Chief Political Consultant
January 5, 2019

Enemies need peace negotiations before they can become friends or partners for the sake of the Filipino people who desire social, economic and political reforms as basis for a just and lasting peace.

Thus, I welcome the statement of Duterte that he is still open to peace negotiations even as there is still an exchange of hostile words in the mass media and exchange of bullets in the battlefield.

It is the consistent policy of the NDFP to be open to peace negotiations with the Duterte regime despite the determination of the NDFP to seek the ouster of this regime.

It is for the benefit of the people that the peace negotiations resume and stop the Duterte regime from proclaiming martial law nationwide, from calling off or rigging the May 2019 elections and from pursuing the scheme to impose a fascist dictatorship on the Filipino people via charter change for a bogus kind of federalism.

The NDFP presumes that, when peace negotiations resume, the way is open to the forging of agreements on social, economic and political reforms that are desired and needed by the people.

https://www.ndfp.org/on-dutertes-statement-of-being-open-to-peace-negotiations/

CPP/NPA-Negros: Dakong kumpanya sa mina nga nagguba sa kinaiyahan gisilotan sa NPA!

NPA-Negros Island propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Website (Jan 3, 2019): Dakong kumpanya sa mina nga nagguba sa kinaiyahan gisilotan sa NPA!

Dionesio Magbuelas
NPA-Negros Island (Mt. Cansermon Command)
New People's Army
January 03, 2019

Madaugon nga gisilotan sa usa ka yunit sa NPA ilawom sa MT. Cansermon Command niining Enero 2, 2019, ala una pasado sa kabuntagon ang Pilipinas Eco-friendly Mining Corporation (PEMC) usa sa dagkong mga kumpanya sa mina nga nag-operate sa bukirong bahin sa lungsod sa Ayungon, Negros Oriental.

Ang PEMC nagsupply og silica sa pulo ka dagkong cement factories sa tibuok nasud ug ika-kinse nga kumpanya nga adunay pinakadakong ginansya sa pagmina. Ang Cebu-based businessman nga si Mark Y. Yu usa sa nagpanag-iya ug presidente sa PEMC. Ang PEMC nanguna nagmina og silica (usa sa gigamit para sa pagproduce og cement) ug usa sa nagpadayon nga pinakamapangdaot nga open-pit mining nga nag-operate sa bukirong bahin sa Ayungon. Naglangkub sa 4,717 ektarya ang target kuhaan og dunang-manggad ug minerales sa dili mag-ubos lima ka dagkong kumpanya sa mina ug usa na niini ang PEMC. Nag-operate ang PEMC sa boundary sa Brgy. Banban ug Mabato, tanan sakop sa Ayungon. Magdislokar sa halos 3-5 ka baryo, maghatag kadaot sa halos 2,000 ektarya nga uma ug palangabuhian duol sa area, magguba sa halos sobra liboan ektarya nga talamnan sa Brgy. Banban ug maghatag usab kadaot sa kabaybayonan ug palangabuhian sa mga mangingisda tuga sa silt (labod o yanang) nga nagaguba sa kasapaan, kasubaan, irrigation padulong sa kababayonan. Daghan na ang reklamo gikan sa lumulupyo nga ipahunong ang mga minahan tungod sa di maayong epekto niini sa ilang kaumahan.

Samtang naghugakom sa dagkong ginansya ang mga kapitalista ug kumpanya sa mina, ang mamumuo nag-antus sa ubos o baratong suholan, walay benipisyo ug walay kasegurohan sa ilang panrabaho. Nahulga usab sa kadaot nga tugahon ang mag-uuma, mangingisda ug lumulupyo sa palibot.

Ang NPA isip rebolusyonaryong hukbo sa katawhan, ilawom sa absolutong pagpamuno sa PKP nagpatuman sa palisiya sa demokratikong gobyerno sa katawhan nga silotan ang mga kumpanya nga nakahimo ug dakong kadaot sa kinaiyahan, nagdislokar sa katawhan ug labina sa ilang palangabuhian.
Kini nga aksyon magserbi nga pahimangno sa tanan nga kumpanya sa mina dire sa Negros.
Ang NPA andam nga ipakig-away ang interes ug kaayuhan sa katawhang Pilipinhon, nagaasdang sa nasudnong soberanya batok sa mga langyawng plunderer ug dagkong kapitalista.

Mabuhay ang ika-50 ka tuig sa Partido Komunista sa Pilipinas!
Mabuhay ang katawhang nakigbisog!
Mabuhay ang tinuod nga hukbo sa katawhan!

https://www.philippinerevolution.info/statement/dakong-kumpanya-sa-mina-nga-nagguba-sa-kinaiyahan-gisilotan-sa-npa/

CPP/NPA-Ilocos Cordillera Region: Victorious raid of Philippine Army – CAFGU detachment in Kalinga, response to Duterte’s call to pulverize the NPA

NPA-Ilocos propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Website (Jan 3, 2019): Victorious raid of Philippine Army – CAFGU detachment in Kalinga, response to Duterte’s call to pulverize the NPA

Martin Montana
Spokesperson
NPA-Ilocos Cordillera Region (Chadli Molintas Command)
New People's Army
January 03, 2019

The Chadli Molintas Command of NPA-Ilocos Cordillera hails the Lejo Cawilan Command of NPA-Kalinga for the successful raid of the Philippine Army (PA)-CAFGU detachment in Western Uma, Lubuagan, Kalinga which was executed in the early hours of December 23, 2018. This is the answer of the NPA-Ilocos Cordillera to the arrogant call of Duterte for the AFP-PNP to “annihilate” the NPA. This is also our response to the call of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) to intensify tactical offensives against the fascist troops of the terrorist US-Duterte regime.

In the said raid, killed in action was the sergeant cadre man of the detachment while wounded were three CAFGU elements. The detachment was over run where thirty (30) high powered rifles were confiscated including seven M16, seven M14, two M4 and fourteen Garand rifles; and thousands of ammunition.

One red fighter, Roy ‘Ka BK/Rodney’ Tongdo from Balbalan, Kalinga, was martyred in the said battle. The CMC gives its highest salutation to ‘Ka BK’ for offering his life to ensure the victory of the said tactical offensive.

In the entire three quarters of the year 2018, the NPA-Kalinga frustrated the continuous combat operations launched by the 50th IB that covered the towns of Balbalan, Pinukpuk, Lubuagan, Pasil, Tinglayan and Tabuk before they were transferred to Mindanao. The only “accomplishment” the 50th IB can boast of are the recycled fake surrenders of peasants as NPAs in Kalinga. The masses of peasants bore the brunt of these operations that have sowed terrorism in the said areas.

The people of Lubuagan have long been demanding the punishment of the detachment ever since it was forcibly set up by the PA in Western Uma in 2015. Among the crimes of the unit based in the said detachment are the coercion of peasants to join the CAFGU, the contrived surrender of more than one hundred civilians presented as NPAs, the exploitation of women and other abuses committed by the PA and CAFGU on the rights of the people.

While the people’s struggle strengthens and expands under the ever worsening economic and political crisis of the country, Duterte and the AFP-PNP become more savage and act like rabid dogs perpetrating


atrocities against the people struggling for their rights. This only encourages more people to join the NPA and directly participate in the armed struggle.

The victorious raid in Western Uma is part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the CPP. This shows that in the fifty years of advancing the people’s democratic revolution in the region and the entire nation, the NPA continues to grow in strength as the people’s war advances to a higher stage. Just like previous regimes, Duterte’s and the AFP-PNP’s declarations to “crush” the armed revolution are mere empty bragging in a desperate attempt to draw more debts from imperialist banks and investments from big foreign capitalists to support the country’s economy continuously mired in intense crisis. The fascist regime’s pipe dream to “pulverize the NPA” and “end the armed struggle” before mid-2019 will surely fail. Amidst the intensifying crisis of the rapidly rottening semifeudal and semicolonial society, the tyrannic Duterte regime is well on the losing course as it becomes more isolated from the Filipino people and as its ouster from power looms while the people’s war advances to a higher stage until total victory is achieved. ###

Army seizes rebel camp

From the Visayan Daily Star (Jan 4, 2019): Army seizes rebel camp

A newly-abandoned camp of the New People’s Army was seized by 62nd Infantry Battalion troopers in Sitio Dawhan, Brgy. Buenavista, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, Tuesday.

Maj. Tim Clavel, 303rd Infantry Brigade acting Civil Military Operations officer, yesterday said that communist rebels hastily abandoned the camp, that was located near a ravine and equipped with a makeshift kitchen, and a formation area with a guard post.


The camp can accommodate about 20 persons, Clavel said.

The combat operations of the 62IB in the area, even during the holidays, prevented the NPA from conducting terror and extortion activities during the Communist Party of the Philippines founding anniversary on December 26, he added.

Recovered from the abandoned rebel camp were assorted personal belongings and food, he said.

Col. Benedict Arevalo, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, lauded the cooperation of Barangay Buenavista residents that led to the discovery of the rebel camp.

Arevalo reminded Army troops to be relentless in going after the NPA rebels to prevent them from conducting more atrocities.

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2019/January/04/topstory9.htm

NPA owns burning P120M in mine heavy equipment

From the Visayan Daily Star (Jan 4, 2019): NPA owns burning P120M in mine heavy equipment

The New People’s Army yesterday claimed responsibility for burning 11 heavy equipment and two generator sets of a Cebu-based mining company in Brgy. Jandalamon, Ayungon, Negros Oriental, on Wednesday morning.

Estimated damage was placed at P120 million, Senior Supt. Raul Tacaca, Negros Oriental provincial police director, said.

Pilipinas Eco-Friendly Mining Corp (PEMC) officials claimed that they had not received any threats or demand letters from the NPA, Brig. Gen. Ignacio Madriaga, 302nd Infantry Brigade commander, said. However, he believes that the burning was triggered by the failure of PEMC to meet the extortion demands of the rebels.
Burned were seven backhoes, two loaders, a grader, bulldozer, and two generator sets, Madriaga said.

The NPA attack came after its unilateral ceasefire ended midnight of January 1.

The rebels also disarmed the firm’s two security guards of their firearms, Madriaga added.

The NPA Mt. Cansermon Command in a statement issued yesterday claimed responsibility for the burning incident.

Ka Dionesio Magbuelas, spokesperson of the Mt. Cansermon Command, said they burned the equipment of PEMC, that has been supplying silica to cement factories in Cebu for 15 years, because it has been destroying the environment in Ayungon.

Magbuelas claimed that the mining operations destroyed about 2,000 hectares of farm and rice fields.

In May last year, the same rebel group claimed responsibility for the burning of heavy equipment owned by a private construction company in Mabinay, Negros Oriental.

Madriaga said that the NPA keeps on hitting high-impact but low-risk targets after it failed to launch tactical offensives against military and police stations and outposts.

The mining site is about 17 kilometers away from the Ayungon town poblacion.

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2019/January/04/topstory3.htm

Yearender: NPA attacks hound Davao

From the Mindanao Times (Jan 2, 2019): Yearender: NPA attacks hound Davao

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 MalacaƱang 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.
 

Soldiers find Garand during rebel pursuit

From the Mindanao Times (Jan 2, 2019): Soldiers find Garand during rebel pursuit

A garand rifle was recovered by troops of the 39th Infantry Battalion during a pursuit operation against communist guerrillas in the hinterlands of Barangay Sibulan, Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur around 8:15 a.m. on Friday.
 
Lt. Col. Rhojun Rosales, the 39th IB commander, told TIMES that the troops chanced upon a group of New People's Army (NPA) rebels who were apparently setting up an ambush, which resulted in a firefight.
 
"The terrorists again scampered away leaving behind food and other propaganda materials for their botched anniversary celebration," Rosales said.
 
Rosales said they are conducting sustained military offensives to put the pressure on the NPA so they will surrender or be destroyed.
 
"This is in line with the President's guidance in ending these decades-old internal security problem," Rosales said.
 
On the other hand, Brig. Gen. Roberto Ancan, commander of the 1002nd Infantry Brigade, commended the troops for driving away the NPA.
 

NPA leader arrested in northern Negros

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 4, 2019): NPA leader arrested in northern Negros

A leader of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Negros Occidental, who is facing a string of murder cases, was arrested by police operatives in Barangay Bato, Sagay City on Thursday night.

A report of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office identified the suspect as Lorenzo Ferolino, alias “Victor Perolino”, the number one in the list of communist terrorists of the defunct Police Regional Office 18 (Negros Island Region).

Ferolino, 39, leader of the Front Secretariat of the North Negros Front, is an intelligence officer of the Special Partisan Unit of Komiteng Rehiyon-Negros, Front Executive Committee; and commanding officer of Technical Department, based on the periodic status report of 2018.


He was arrested on board a motorcycle with a female companion, Clydie Sabete, 26, while traveling along Sitio Linasgasan at about 10 p.m.

Chief Insp. Antonio Benitez Jr., officer-in-charge of the Sagay City Police Station, in a radio interview on Friday, said they received information on the whereabouts of Ferolino, prompting them to conduct an operation for his arrest.

The police then endorsed Ferolino to the custody of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, he added.

Police records showed Ferolino has warrants of arrest for murder issued by Executive Judge Renato MuƱez of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Cadiz City on Sept. 19, 2012; two counts of murder, issued by Judge Kathrine Go of RTC Branch 59 in San Carlos City on March 10, 2014; two counts of murder and one for frustrated murder, issued by Executive Judge Reginald Fuentebella of RTC Branch 73 in Sagay City on July 27, 2018. All the murder cases have no recommended bail.

During his arrest, Ferolino yielded a .45-caliber pistol with defaced serial number, along with two magazines with 22 live ammunition, and a bag containing his voter’s ID, driver’s license, and other personal belongings.

Sabete was found possessing a fragmented hand grenade and a .22 caliber revolver with a cartridge case and one live ammunition, along with some personal items.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1057970

27 Bukidnon ex-NPAs get benefits after surrender

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 4, 2019): 27 Bukidnon ex-NPAs get benefits after surrender



Lt. Colonel Ronal Illana, commanding officer of the 8th Infantry Battalion, gives a message to the former rebels who are given incentives through Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP) on Thursday. January 3, 2019. (Photo courtesy of 8IB CMO)

IMPASUGONG, Bukidnon -- Another batch of 27 former rebels received financial assistance through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) at the Army's 8th Infantry Battalion (8IB) headquarters here Thursday.

Marieta Dayata, DSWD-Bukidnon provincial team leader, said the incentive totaled PHP135,000 -- or PHP5,000 each -- for rebel returnees who formerly belonged to the North Central Mindanao Regional command and Militia ng Bayan (MB) of the New People's Army (NPA).

"This is one of the DSWD programs that will help former rebels," aside from medical assistance and other aid under the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP), she said.

Marila Taquin, who was a former political instructor of the NPA, said the aid packages from the government have made it possible for her to start a piggery business.

"I started a piggery business after receiving PHP65,000 on December 18 last year through the E-Clip program. Now my family is in better hands, and we can eat regularly now that we have returned to the arms of the state," Taquin said in the dialect.

Lt. Col. Ronal Illana, 8IB commanding officer, expressed gratitude to the government agencies that are extending aid to former communist rebels.

Illana called on the remaining NPA rebels to "lay down your arms and come back to the folds of the law. Rest assured that your Army will always be there to help and support you in changing your life.”

Lt. Ken Cabbigat, 8IB civil-military operations officer, said a total of 295 Bukidnon-based NPA members and mass supporters have surrendered in the past two years.



http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1057931

2 minors hurt in clan war at NoCot-Maguindanao border

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 5, 2019): 2 minors hurt in clan war at NoCot-Maguindanao border



Two minors were hit by stray bullets in sporadic gun battles involving warring Moro families in the interior villages of Pikit, North Cotabato, the past two days, a social welfare official said Friday.

“The victims of stray bullets, aged 4 and 7 years old, are now safe and have returned home,” said Tahira Kalantongan, Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (MDRRMC) action officer.

“They only suffered minor injuries but we know the trauma is deep,” she said, adding that the conflict started on Wednesday and ended Thursday. “No more fighting as of today (Friday),” Kalantongan said.

Kalantongan said armed hostilities, although sporadic, erupted between two warring Moro families in several villages situated in the borders of Pikit and in Pagalungan, Maguindanao.

“The fighting was sporadic, not massive but people feared for their safety,” she said, adding that normalcy has been restored and the presence of soldiers and police help prevent civilians from abandoning their communities.

Kalantongan said Muslim elders have also entered into the picture to help pacify warring families bringing them to the negotiating table for diplomatic solutions to conflict.

The skirmishes stemmed from a land dispute between the families of the Mangindras and Talusobs who both have relatives from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the area.

The MILF, for its part, has also sent a buffer force in the site of conflict as part of the pacification efforts.


http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1058000

DOJ pursuing efforts for tagging of CPP-NPA as terror group

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 5, 2019): DOJ pursuing efforts for tagging of CPP-NPA as terror group

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is not backing down from moves to seek a court ruling to declare the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), as terrorist organizations.

“There are developments,” Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Ong told reporters Friday.

Ong made the remark after Senator Panfilo Lacson called on the DOJ to follow up with the judiciary the court proscription against the CPP-NPA.

He, however, declined to give the government's next moves before the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 19, where he filed the proscription case on Feb. 21, 2018 pursuant to Section 17 of the Human Security Act.

The petition was filed after President Rodrigo Duterte proclaimed the CPP-NPA as a terrorist group following continued attacks against state forces, despite the government’s efforts to reach out to communist rebels for peace talks.

Once the court grants the petition, the government can wiretap rebel communication system and look into the bank accounts of the organization and its members to freeze their assets.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1057998

Communists hard to deal with: PRRD

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 5, 2019): Communists hard to deal with: PRRD

 

There is slim chance of pursuing peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People's Army/National Democratic Front (CPP/NPA/NDF) as their demandsare hard to meet, President Rodrigo R. Duterte said Friday.

In a situational briefing after his aerial inspection in the aftermath of Tropical Depression Usman in Camarines Sur, Duterte said unlike Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding chairman Nur Misuari, who is open to peace negotiations, CPP founding chairman Jose Maria Sison is hard to negotiate with.

"Wala tayong makuha diyan sa NPA. Maski na sabihin nilang walang coalition but they want to join yung mga economic bodies natin gaya ng NEDA [National Economic and Development Authority], mahirap yan (We cannot get anything from the NPA. Even if they say they do not want a coalition, but they want to join our economic bodies like the NEDA, it's a hard thing to do)," Duterte said.

Duterte said Sison's fellow CPP/NPA/NDF negotiators Luis Jalandoni and Fidel Agcaoili are also hard to deal with.

"Si Agcaoili hinahaluan ng mga legal-legal yan (Agcaoili is always mixing things with legal jargon). They came and wanted to talk to me, sabi ko (I said) 'no'. You come, cut, and cut cleanly, you adopt the democracy," he said.

Duterte added that leftist personalities previously in his Cabinet, particularly former Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary Rafael Mariano and former Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, pushed for questionable policies, with Mariano allegedly urging people to occupy vacant lots and Taguiwalo allegedly prioritizing NPA members in the distribution of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) benefits.

"He (Mariano) was there, a Cabinet member at that, he was egging people na mag-okupasyon (to occupy), if there is a vacant lot. Kaya (So) I was forced to come up sabi ko (I said) 'Do not do that because I will order the law enforcers to arrest you, if you fight, to shoot you dead'," Duterte said.

NPA members, the President said, do not know the impact of their insurgency and just blindly following Sison.

The CPP-NPA, in earlier reports, had been involved in mass murders, extortion, and violation of indigenous people's rights.

The US State Department and the European Union have both tagged the CPP-NPA as terrorist organizations.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1058044

‘Seized weapons not from military’

From the Manila Times (Jan 4): ‘Seized weapons not from military’

The firearms seized by the police last year from suspected Mindanao-based gun suppliers did not come from the military, the Philippine Army said on Thursday, as it wrapped up its investigation on the issue of supposed firearms pilferage within the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Lt. Col. Eugenio Osias 4th, spokesman of the Army’s Nueva Ecija-based 7th Infantry Division (ID), said their investigation found the guns and ammunition confiscated from two gun suppliers of Mindanao-based threat groups came from a “commercial source.”


“The 7th ID is done with its investigation. Turns out negative that the guns and ammunition came from us. Based on the results, the guns came from a commercial source,” Osias told reporters.

In December last year, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) arrested a couple in Valenzuela City who allegedly supplied guns to the Abu Sayyaf Group, the Islamic State-inspired Maute group and some politicians based in Mindanao.

The NCRPO said the alleged gunrunners were connected with a retired soldier, prompting police officials to suspect that the arms cache may have come from the military.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana ordered a thorough investigation to determine if the firearms were pilfered.

Osias said the cases containing the firearms were not issued by the military.

“The markings can be fabricated and the case [of the confiscated firearms] is not the official crate of the Army, we only have green boxes,” he said.

“We are sure that there were no issued lot numbers and all of our firearms are complete in our inventory,” Osias added.

https://www.manilatimes.net/seized-weapons-not-from-military/491529/

Dutchman held by Abu Sayyaf since 2012 is still alive, says former hostage

From PLN-Philippine Lifestyle News (Jan 3, 2019): Dutchman held by Abu Sayyaf since 2012 is still alive, says former hostage

Dutchman

Inset, Ewold Horn who has been in the clutches of Abu Sayyaf since being kidnapped on Tawi-Tawi Island in February 2012.

A Dutchman who has been in the hands of Abu Sayyaf terrorists since 2012 is still alive, a recently released captive has confirmed.

Jelster Ed ‘Jed’ Tiu Quimbo, aged 28, who was freed after four months in Patikul, Sulu, on Sunday (December 30), has told authorities that he was held alongside a Dutchman, a Vietnamese national and three Filipinos.

Police say Quimbo must have been referring to Ewold Horn, who was abducted along with Lorenzo Vinciguerre during a birdwatching trip to Tawi-Tawi Island. Vinciguerre, from Switzerland, was rescued by the military in Patikul in December 2014.


Quimbo — son of Eddie Quimbo, the Mayor of Labason in Zamboanga del Norte — told authorities that the number of Abu Sayyaf members holding them had decreased as military operations against the group continued. He added that the remaining hostages are in good condition.

“There was a time when the military conducted operation and dropped rounds of bombs, we were herded together by our captors for our safety,” he said.

As well as the five hostages that Quimbo has confirmed seeing, the military is also verifying whether three Indonesians seized off the coast of Sabah, Malaysia, are also being held by the group.

The Islamic State-affiliated terror group has previously murdered western hostages.

In February 2017, German hostage Jurgen Kantner was beheaded after a $600,000 ransom demand was not paid.

A video of the killing was circulated by the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi websites. It showed Mr Kantner, aged 70, sitting in a grassy clearing and saying: “Now he kills me”. A masked militant then beheads him with a curved knife.

A few gunmen muttered “Allahu Akbar”, or ‘God is great,’ in the video that lasted one minute and 43 seconds. The German, whose wife was murdered when they were kidnapped from their yacht three months previously, was twice forced to beg for his life on camera.

Before this, in 2016, two Canadians, Robert Hall and John Ridsdel were also decapitated by the terror group.

http://philippineslifestyle.com/dutchman-abu-sayyaf-alive/

Dutch man kidnapped in 2012 still in Abu Sayyaf hands, freed captive says

From the Philippine Star (Dec 3, 2019): Dutch man kidnapped in 2012 still in Abu Sayyaf hands, freed captive says



Quimbo, who was freed by the Abu Sayyaf in Patikul, Sulu last Sunday, told authorities that he had been held along with a Dutch national, a Vietnamese national and three Filipinos.  Google Maps
A Dutch national who has been in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf since 2012 is still alive, a former captive who was freed last Sunday after being held by the bandit group for four months said.

Jelster Ed ‘Jed’ Tiu Quimbo, 28, who was freed by the Abu Sayyaf in Patikul, Sulu last Sunday, told authorities that he had been held along with a Dutch national, a Vietnamese national and three Filipinos.


Quimbo was apparently referring to Ewold Horn, who was abducted along with fellow birdwatcher Lorenzo Vinciguerre in Panglima Sugala town, Tawi-Tawi. Vinciguerre, a Swiss national, was rescued by the military in Patikul in December 2014.

He described the other hostages to be in good condition.

Quimbo—son of Labason, Zamboanga del Norte Mayor Eddie Quimbo—told authorities the number of Abu Sayyaf members holding them decreased as military operations against the group continued.

"There was a time when the military conducted operation and dropped rounds of bombs, we were herded together by our captors for our safety," Quimbo disclosed.

While Quimbo confirmed having seen five other hostages, the military is verifying whether three Indonesians seized in Sabah waters and reportedly brought to Sulu are also being held by the group.

https://www.philstar.com/nation/2019/01/03/1882032/dutch-man-kidnapped-2012-still-abu-sayyaf-hands-freed-captive-says

Preparations on for localized peace strategy rollout

From Business World (Jan 3, 2019): Preparations on for localized peace strategy rollout

MEETINGS ARE now ongoing for the operationalization of the localized peace process strategy, which will focus not just on ending the communist armed struggle but building “conflict-resilient” communities.

“Aside from focusing on our enemies, we also have to look at our people and communities through a people-centered strategy to make our communities resilient from communist recruitment, propaganda, and exploitation,” said Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benjamin R. Madrigal Jr. in a statement on Thursday, Jan. 3.

The government’s new policy direction for addressing the 50-year old communist insurgency stems from Executive Order No. 70 signed by President Rodrigo R. Duterte last Dec. 4. EO 70 seeks to ensure the provision of social services, employment opportunities, and improved quality of life in communities that have been experiencing, or are vulnerable to, armed communist conflict.

“We have made significant progress and have headways in our campaign to end insurgency, but to reach what we can call a complete victory, we need to create communities that are conflict-resilient and we need local and national government agencies to attain this,” said Mr. Madrigal.

The AFP reported that in 2018, a total of 12,017 Communist Party of the Philippines and New People’s Army (NPA) members and supporters were “neutralized,” including 11,623 who surrendered, 130 killed and 264 apprehended in legitimate security and law enforcement operations.

https://www.bworldonline.com/preparations-on-for-localized-peace-strategy-rollout/

NPA leaders, bomb maker surrender in Compostela Valley

From the Philippine Star (Jan 4, 2019): NPA leaders, bomb maker surrender in Compostela Valley

At least four key personalities of the Pulang Bagani Command (PBC) of the New People’s Army (NPA) in the Davao region surrendered in New Bataan, Compostela Valley last week.
 
Col. Manuel Siquitin, 701st Infantry Brigade commander, said a certain Cory, vice commander of the Basil platoon of the PBC; an alias JB, a bomb maker, and team leaders Aldrin and Jeffrey yielded an M16 rifle, a caliber .45 pistol, three improvised explosive devices, bomb materials, medical supplies, documents of high intelligence value and P6,500 in cash.

“The surrender of these rebels is a result of... focused operations of the 66th Infantry Battalion,” Siquitin said.

Davao and Compostela Valley, where the presence of communist rebels remains high, are primary areas of military operations.
Mining equipment burned

Meanwhile, in Negros Oriental, communist rebels burned more than a dozen heavy equipment owned by a mining company in Barangay Jandalamon, Ayungon on Wednesday.

Seven back hoes, two loaders, a grader, a bulldozer and two generator sets were destroyed, Brig. Gen. Ignacio Madriaga, 302nd Infantry Brigade commander, said.
 
Madriaga said the communist rebels disarmed the security guards of Pilipinas Eco-Friendly Mining Corp. before setting the equipment on fire. He said the management of PEMC could have ignored the extortion demands of the NPA.



The Cansermon Command of the NPA claimed responsibility for the incident.

Its spokesman, Dionesio Magbuelas, said PEMC, which supplies silica to cement factories in Cebu, destroyed the environment in Ayungon.

Magbuelas claimed that mining operations in Ayungon destroyed around 2,000 hectares of rice fields and other farm lots.

Army discovers NPA hideout in Himamaylan

From the Sun Star-Bacolod (Jan 4, 2019): Army discovers NPA hideout in Himamaylan

THE 62nd Infantry Battalion (IB) of the Philippine Army discovered a hideout of the New People’s Army (NPA) at the hinterlands of Barangay Buenavista in Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental on January 1.

A press release of the 303rd Infantry Brigade (IBde) said the hideout can accommodate 20 persons.
The camp, which is near a cliff, has a good water source, a makeshift kitchen, formation area, and guard post.

The NPA hideout was discovered when the military troops were conducting combat operations in the area.

Colonel Benedict Arevalo, commander of the 303rd Brigade based in Murcia town, commended the troops.

He expressed his gratitude to the community for giving information on the location of the said hideout.

Arevalo also reminded the troops to be relentless and aggressive in running after the rebels in order to prevent them from conducting any atrocities.

“Your army will continue to conduct military operations with the support of the locals in the area to prevent the NPAs from doing terroristic and extortion activities against our people especially that the election is fast approaching,” he added.

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1781137

NPA claims torching mining firm’s heavy equipment in Negros Oriental

From ABS-CBN (Jan 3, 2019): NPA claims torching mining firm’s heavy equipment in Negros Oriental



The New People's Army (NPA) said the burning of heavy equipment was the mining firm's punishment for destroying the environment. Photo courtesy of Vic Camion

AYUNGON, Negros Oriental - The New People’s Army (NPA) has claimed responsibility for burning P120-million worth of heavy equipment owned by a mining firm here early Wednesday morning.

Dionesio Magbuelas, spokesperson of the NPA in Central Negros, said the Mt. Cansermon Command of the Communist Party of the Philippines burned 8 backhoes, 2 payloaders, 2 dump trucks, 2 generator sets and 1 rock crusher.

Magbuelas said the firm that owns the equipment supplies silica to 10 major cement factories in the Philippines and is the 15th company generating profits from open-pit mining.

He said they punished the mining company because its activities destroy the environment.

But the Philippine Army in Negros Oriental believes the rebel group is trying to extort money from the firm.

Brig. Gen. Ignacio Madriaga, commanding officer of the 302nd Brigade, said the mining firm's management refused to issue a statement.

Madriaga also believes the rebels were trying to retaliate following government’s enhanced police operations aimed at curbing criminality.

He said rebels should stop launching attacks as their terror activities result in the displacement of people and the loss of livelihood of many.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/03/19/npa-claims-torching-mining-firms-heavy-equipment-in-negros-oriental

Australia issues travel warning for Mindanao over terror threats

From the Philippine Star (Jan 4, 2019): Australia issues travel warning for Mindanao over terror threats

Australia warned its citizens against traveling to parts of Mindanao, citing threats of terrorist attacks.

In its travel advisory, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade advised its nationals to “reconsider travel to eastern Mindanao and not to travel to central and western Mindanao, due to very high levels of violent crime, high threats of terrorist attacks and kidnapping.”

Australian citizens were also advised to “exercise a high degree of caution in the Philippines overall.”

The Australian advisory came following the UK’s warning against traveling to Mindanao in the wake of last Monday’s bombing of a shopping mall in Cotabato City that killed two people and left several others injured.

The Australian advisory also mentioned the US Department of Homeland Security notification last month stating that Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Manila falls short on international standards for security.

The Australian embassy expressed condolences to the families of the victims of the bombing.

“The Australian embassy offers our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed in the attack in Cotabato City,” the embassy said in a statement.

MalacaƱang yesterday maintained it is “very safe” to go to Mindanao despite the bombing in Cotabato City that prompted some foreign governments to issue travel warnings.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the Cotabato blast was an isolated incident.

“We cannot blame them (UK and Australia) if they have such view because of the bombing in Cotabato but that’s just an isolated case... (As) far as the national defense secretary is concerned, it’s very safe to travel to Mindanao,” Panelo said at a press briefing.

Panelo said it is natural for any government to be concerned with the welfare and safety of citizens.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde gave assurance that there will be no spillover of violence from Mindanao to Metro Manila.

Albayalde said the intelligence community is constantly monitoring the movements of known terrorist groups.

A group called Daulah Islamiyah has been tagged for the Cotabato bombing.

Officials said the Daulah Islamiyah has links with the Maute group and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

The bombing occurred ahead of a scheduled plebiscite that would determine what areas would be included in the Bangsamoro autonomous region.

Albayalde said rebel groups were still able to carry out terror attacks even if Mindanao is under martial law.

MILF faction threatened Cotabato, mayor

From the Manila Standard (Jan 3, 2019): MILF faction threatened Cotabato, mayor says

A commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front warned that “there will be consequences” for those who voted against Cotabato City’s inclusion in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Mayor Cynthia Guiani said Thursday.

 

Mayor Cynthia Guiani

This came after a deadly bomb attack killed two people and wounded 34 others near a mall in Cotabato on Dec. 31.

The blast came weeks before a Jan. 21 plebiscite that will determine the composition of the BARMM, the product of a 2014 agreement between the government and the MILF.

READ: Blast triggers travel warning

In an interview with the ANC news channel, Guiani said she had met with MILF commander Wahig Tundok to try to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict of bringing Cotabato into the BARMM.

But to the mayor’s dismay, Tundok said his MILF faction was “willing to risk everything just to get Cotabato City. That’s a threat. It scares the people,” Guiani told ANC.

The commander had issued the warning in an online video before the blast, showing the MILF group’s insincerity, the mayor said.

“In that interview, he said that they will attain victory in Cotabato City even if it takes bloodshed to achieve it. He went on to add that they’ve long been accustomed to resorting to violence to achieve their objectives,” she said.

MILF chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim condemned the attack as “an act of cowardice, inhuman, and atrocious.”

In a statement, Murad said: “We are saddened by the fact that this incident occurred at a time while we are in the thick of preparations for the plebiscite on the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law [BOL] on January 21, 2019.”

The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, a pro-Islamic State armed group that broke away from the MILF, is suspected of causing the explosion, authorities said.

Cotabato residents are likely to vote against their inclusion in the BARMM, Guiani said, citing consultations with various sectors that showed her constituents don’t want to join the regional body because of the way its advocates campaigned for it.

“If you cannot even start a good campaign by being kind to those people you want to vote for ‘yes,’ then how can you be nice to us when you’re already there, when you already have the vote?” she said.

The mayor urged her constituents to go out and vote and make their voices heard during the referendum on Jan. 21.

Meanwhile, the Palace said Thursday it was still safe to travel to Mindanao despite travel advisories issued by the United Kingdom and Australia.

“It’s natural for any foreign government, or any government for that matter, to be concerned for the welfare, the safety of their citizens,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

Panelo said, however, that the bomb attack was an “isolated case.”

“In so far as the national Defense secretary is concerned, it’s very safe to travel in Mindanao,” he said.

Department of National Defense spokesperson Arsenio Andolong said there is nothing new with the advisories since governments regularly issue them to their citizens who are overseas.

Andolong said governments simply want to remind their citizens to take precautions when traveling to countries where bandits and terrorists operate.

Earlier, UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office advised its citizens against travel to western and central Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago because of terrorist activity and clashes between the military and insurgents.

The FCO also advised against all but essential travel to the remainder of Mindanao (excluding Camiguin, Dinagat and Siargao Islands) and to the south of Cebu province due to the threat of terrorism.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, meanwhile, advised its citizens to avoid travel to western and central Mindanao, to reconsider travel to eastern Mindanao, and exercise a “high degree of caution” when traveling to the Philippines. Macon Ramos-Araneta

The Philippine National Police said the situation in Cotabato City has now normalized and that its forces are currently focusing on preventing a repeat of the incident.

Senators on Thursday said the Dec. 31 blast in Cotabato City underscored the need to pass the bill strengthening the Human Security Act.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said current limits to martial law made it an ineffective tool to stop terrorism.

“The martial law we have now is a far cry from the old martial law of the 1935 Constitution. That was a tiger; now all we have is a feverish cat,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Senator Gregorio Honasan II said the Philippines had one of the weakest anti-terrorism laws in Asia.

But administration critic Senator Antonio Trillanes IV warned against giving President Rodrigo Duterte more martial law powers.


Ghadzali Jaafar

“For as long as we have an abusive president, we should not give him additional powers. Because, surely, Duterte will use it against his own people, especially his political opponents. Besides, they already have martial law in Mindanao,” he said.

READ: MILF denounces Cotabato mall blast; military sees terror hand

http://manilastandard.net/news/top-stories/284506/milf-faction-threatened-cotabato-mayor-says.html

Gov’t to launch ‘more focused, intense’ offensives vs enemies of the state

From the Manila Bulletin (Jan 4, 2019): Gov’t to launch ‘more focused, intense’ offensives vs enemies of the state

The government is expected to launch “more focused and intense” military offensives against enemies of the state this year with the ultimate objective of crushing them by 2022.



Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo (OPS / MANILA BULLETIN)
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said a “relentless” campaign would be pursued against lawless elements including Communist insurgents and terrorists.

“We expect military offensives to be more focused and intense in 2019 as we are geared to crush enemy forces by the end of the President’s term in 2022,” Panelo said.

“The government will remain relentless in its fight against all forms of criminality, including the Muslim rebellion and the Communist insurgency, correctly described by former Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro as a ‘syndicated criminal terrorist enterprise,’ as well as other terrorist groups,” he added.

Panelo, however, rejected allegation made by Communist leader Jose Maria Sison that Duterte was the mastermind of state terrorism.

“There is also no such thing as state terrorism, as maintained by Mr. Sison, but only state-applied measures to end the bloodshed and deaths of our fellow Filipinos engineered by the CPP/NPA/NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army/National Democratic Front).

Sison recently declared that the ouster of Duterte would be the priority of the communist group this year. He earlier hit back at the President for ordering the troops to destroy communist rebels, saying Duterte was an “abominable violator of human rights.”

“He is the mastermind of state terrorism and No. 1 violator of human rights and someone truly deserving of trial by the International Criminal Court as well as by the people’s court of the people’s democratic government,” he said.


Panelo, however, dismissed Sison’s latest ouster threat against the President as nothing but “fantasy.”

“As in previous years, their attempt to overthrow duly constituted authorities failed, so it will be relative to the present one. Mr. Sison’s and the CPP/NPA/NDF’s dream of altering political leadership will remain just that – a dream. A fantasy. An illusion,” he said.

He also belittled the capacity of the Communist group to oust the Duterte government, saying its ranks were “now aging and its membership declining.” He said the group could no longer recruit or attract new ones without coercion or intimidation.

“Where in the past, they were able to mislead the best and the brightest amongst our youth, the latter has become more discernible. Hence, the ‘expanding and deepening mass base’ Mr. Sison is talking about is nothing but a pipe dream,” he said.

“From a visionary, Mr. Sison turned out to be an illusory rebel engaged in hysterical rants and pitiful, if not absurd, propaganda,” he added.

https://news.mb.com.ph/2019/01/04/govt-to-launch-more-focused-intense-offensives-vs-enemies-of-the-state/

Moro group hits AFP: Why quickly blame ISIS on Cotabato blast?

From the pro-Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) online publication the Davao Today (Jan 2, 2019): Moro group hits AFP: Why quickly blame ISIS on Cotabato blast?

A militant Moro group on Tuesday hit out the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for quickly blaming alleged ISIS militants as the group behind the deadly bomb explosion in Cotabato City last December 31 even a thorough probe has yet to conclude about the incident.

“Lacking thorough investigation, the military is quick to accuse ISIS militants of this would justify their military take-over in Cotabato City and other Moro areas, at a time that residents of Cotabato City and other Moro areas in Mindanao are preparing for the plebiscite that would ratify the Bangsamoro Organic Law,” Jerome Aba of Suara Bangsamoro said.

Aba issued a statement when 6th Infantry Division commander Maj Gen Cirilito Sobejana suspect that a Daesh-related group was behind the blast incident that killed two and wounded a score of civilians.

Aba cautioned the AFP to refrain from issuing such statements, saying “it would affect not only the investigation but would lead to incidents of human rights violations.”

“A shortcut of the investigation is an injustice to the families of the victims and to the people of Cotabato City, as the real perpetrators will still roam free and the bombing incidents continue,” Aba added.

He feared that with AFP resorting to the “ISIS terrorist angle” would subject Moro communities to profiling and tighten security measures similar to what had happened in Marawi City.

“Moro communities will experience another full-scale response like what happened in Marawi City—setting up of checkpoints, arbitrary arrests, and raids, and worse, another round of aerial bombardment and military operations in Moro areas suspected of ISIS presence such as the second district of Maguindanao and North Cotabato,” Aba said.

“We hope that this incident will not be used to divide the Moro people by accusing each other and using their stand for and against the BOL as the motive behind the bombing. What is glossed over in this incident is that this justifies President Duterte’s military solution to the conflict in Mindanao that would lead to military abuses and incidents of human rights violations,” Aba added.

http://davaotoday.com/main/politics/moro-group-hits-afp-why-quickly-blame-isis-on-cotabato-blast/

NPA rebels tagged for burning heavy equipment in NegOr

From the Cebu Daily News (Jan 3, 2019): NPA rebels tagged for burning heavy equipment in NegOr

At least 11 heavy equipment owned by a mining company were burned down in Barangay Jandalamanon, Ayungon, Negros Oriental at around noon on New Year’s Day which state forces believe to be the work of the New People’s Army (NPA).



One backhoe and a payloader were totally damaged while the remaining 9 heavy equipment were partially burned in the attack.


In a statement sent to the media on Thursday, January 3, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)- Central Visayas Command (Centcom) said the resistance of the company that own the equipment, Pilipinas Eco-Friendly Mining Corporation, to give in to the demands of the NPA and the recent arrest and death of their identified members in Guihulngan City, might have angered them causing them to burn the equipment.

“This is another terroristic and desperate attack perpetrated by the NPA. They again targeted a legitimate company which is one of the sources of livelihood of the people in that area,” Lieutenant General Noel Clement, commander of Centcom, said in a statement.

Clement lashed at the group for their “total disregard to humanity and to the provisions set-forth in CARHRIHL (Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law).”

CARHRIHL is a treaty signed by the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in 1998 at The Hague, The Netherlands.

Under the treaty, civilians and their properties should be protected from attacks from both camps.

Clement said they will continue to go after the rebel group to ensure that they will not be able to “sow fear” among the Negrenses.

“I already directed my ground commanders that there will be no let up on our pursuit operation. We will not let these terror group continue to sow fear among the peace-loving people in Negros,” Clement said.

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/210346/npa-rebels-tagged-for-burning-heavy-equipment-in-negor

Nothing new in UK travel advisory on Mindanao: DND

From PTV News (Jan 3, 2019): Nothing new in UK travel advisory on Mindanao: DND

There is nothing new in the United Kingdom’s advisory, which warned its nationals against traveling to Mindanao.

This was disclosed by Department of National Defense (DND) spokesperson Arsenio Andolong in a statement forwarded to reporters Wednesday.

“This is nothing new. The government of the UK regularly issues security advisories to its subjects who are overseas. It is the mandate and responsibility of every government in the world to remind its citizens to take precautions when traveling to countries that have a presence of bandits and terrorists, whether their activities or numbers are significant or not,” he added.

This was also shared by DND Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, noting that such an advisory is a default warning.

“The British advisory is an automatic & default warning of governments to their nationals like we also do when these things happen in other countries. It is normal and ordinary. We hear about these advisories all the time,” he added.

Earlier, UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advised its citizens against all travel to western and central Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago because of terrorist activity and clashes between the military and insurgent groups.

The FCO also advised against all but essential travel to the remainder of Mindanao (excluding Camiguin, Dinagat and Siargao Islands) and to the south of Cebu province, up to and including the municipalities of Dalaguete and Badian, due to the threat of terrorism.

“Terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in the Philippines, including in Manila. Terrorist groups continue to plan attacks and have the capacity and the intent to carry out attacks anytime and anywhere in the country, including in places visited by foreigners, like airports, shopping malls, public transport, including the metro system, and places of worship. You should remain vigilant at all times and report anything suspicious to the local authorities,” the UK FCO added.

London issued the travel advisory, shortly after the bomb attack in Cotabato City, which killed two persons and wounded 34 others last Dec. 31.

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police (PNP) announced that the situation in Cotabato City has now normalized and that its forces are now focusing on preventing a repeat of the incident.

“As far as the PNP is concerned, everything went back to normal in Cotabato City. And the security services, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the PNP are on top of the situation,” PNP spokesperson Chief Supt. Benigno Durana said in a separate statement.

https://www.ptvnews.ph/nothing-new-in-uk-travel-advisory-on-mindanao-dnd/

Abu Sayyaf terrorists free Filipino hostage: military

From Xinhua (Jan 3, 2019): Abu Sayyaf terrorists free Filipino hostage: military

The Abu Sayyaf Group terrorists have freed a 28-year-old Filipino man who was kidnapped more than a year ago, the Philippine military said on Thursday.

Gerry Besana, the spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Western Mindanao Command, said the hostage named Jed Quimbo, who was abducted in September 2017 in Zamboanga del Norte province in the southern Philippines, was released on Dec. 30, 2018 in Sulu province.

Besana said no ransom was paid for the hostage's release. He claimed the hostage was released due to "military pressure."

The family of the hostage and the Sulu governor received the kidnapped victim after his release.

The Philippine military said the Abu Sayyaf Group terrorists are still holding three foreign and two Filipino hostages in Sulu province.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte activated a new Army Infantry Division to crush the Abu Sayyaf terrorists last month.

Philippine security forces have been trying to crush the Abu Sayyaf terrorists since early 2000.

Abu Sayyaf Group is the smallest but also the most radical terrorist groups in the Philippines, and often carry out kidnappings, bombings and beheadings in western Mindanao, particularly in their lair in the island provinces of Basilan and Sulu.

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-01/03/c_137717766.htm

Duterte’s pivot to China less than meets the eye

Posted to the East Asia Forum (Jan 4, 2019): Duterte’s pivot to China less than meets the eye (By Richard Javad Heydarian)

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the Philippines in November 2018 was the first by a top Chinese leader in more than a decade, marking the culmination of an ongoing rapprochement between the two countries.

Despite high expectations, Xi’s visit failed to achieve any major breakthroughs. There was neither a firm resource-sharing agreement for the South China Sea nor a major announcement on the backlog of big-ticket Chinese infrastructure investments.



With little to show for his China-courting gambit, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has come under growing pressure to re-examine his foreign policy calculus — especially ahead of crucial midterm elections in 2019 that will serve as a referendum on his populist presidency.

In a region growing sceptical of Beijing’s overtures, the Philippines has emerged as an outlier — an island of rare optimism over its burgeoning bilateral relations with China.

Since coming to power in 2016, Duterte has effectively toed the Chinese line on the South China Sea disputes. He refuses to raise the Philippines’ landmark South China Sea arbitration ruling in talks with Beijing, has described the situation in the disputed waters as generally ‘stable’ and ASEAN–China relations as ‘excellent’, and rarely criticises Beijing’s relentless militarisation of claimed islands.

Operationally, Duterte has blocked US warships en route for freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea from using Philippine ports. He has also rejected US requests to preposition equipment and develop critical bases close to the disputed waters under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.

During Xi’s visit, both sides agreed to elevate their relations to a strategic partnership. Xi announced an agreement to ‘chart a clear course for China–Philippines relations’ and made it clear that China ‘will continue to do its modest best to help and support the Philippines’.

Yet of the 29 deals signed between the two countries, there was little indication that China will expedite its multi-billion dollar pledges of infrastructure investment in the Philippines. Almost all the signed deals were vague, non-binding agreements on pre-identified projects. Among the 10 proposed big-ticket Chinese infrastructure projects, so far only one (the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project, worth around US$60 million) has passed the preliminary stages of implementation.

Frustration seems to be building, with outspoken Philippine Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno openly lamenting the need for Xi to ‘put pressure on the speed of implementation of all these projects’.

Similarly, months after Duterte suggested ‘co-ownership’ of resources in disputed areas of the South China Sea, the two sides have failed to secure even the framework for an agreement on joint exploration of potential energy resources. They have only signed a memorandum of understanding on oil and gas development, with no specifications on where the potential projects would be.

The deadlock in negotiations is likely due to mounting domestic opposition, including from within the Philippine government bureaucracy, to any controversial and potentially illegal resource-sharing agreement with China. No less than Foreign Secretary Teddy Locsin proudly announced his pushback against ‘forces [within the government] saying we should come to an understanding’ with China.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines, which remains heavily sceptical about China’s intentions, reportedly also rejected a Chinese proposal for a Maritime and Air Liaison Mechanism in areas of overlapping claims in the South China Sea. For the military, any such agreement would indirectly legitimise China’s claims in the Philippine-claimed Spratly chain of islands.

Shortly after Xi’s departure, key statesmen aired their explicit opposition to any major compromise with China. Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio, the acting chief justice at the time, warned that any joint exploration or joint development deal with China in areas of overlapping claims would be unconstitutional. He went so far as to call China’s creeping maritime expansion the ‘gravest external threat’ to the Philippines since World War II.

Prominent politicians are also being more openly critical of closer ties with China ahead of the midterm elections. The latest surveys suggest that the vast majority of Filipinos are sceptical of China and would prefer that Duterte take a tougher stance in the South China Sea disputes.

The Senate is conducting several investigations into the reported influx of illegal Chinese workers, the proliferation of Chinese-run online casinos and the potential entry of a state-run Chinese enterprise into the Philippines’ telecommunications market. Prominent legislators such as Senator Grace Poe have openly raised national security concerns over a deluge of Chinese technology, capital and workers.

Far from falling into China’s orbit of influence, the Philippines remains in the midst of an intense internal debate over the future of its bilateral relations with Beijing. Crucially, there is deep opposition to any major compromise with Beijing in the South China Sea as well as uncertainty about large-scale Chinese investments.

Instead of solidifying bilateral ties, Xi’s visit seems to have only exposed internal fault lines and widespread scepticism in the Philippines over Duterte’s strategic flirtation with Beijing.

[Richard Javad Heydarian is a Manila-based academic and author of The Rise of Duterte: A Populist Revolt Against Elite Democracy. This article is part of an EAF special feature series on 2018 in review and the year ahead. A version of this article originally appeared here on Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.]

http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2019/01/04/dutertes-pivot-to-china-less-than-meets-the-eye/

Opinion: Only three scenarios for the communist insurgency

Opinion piece posted to the Manila Times (Jan 4, 2019): Only three scenarios for the communist insurgency (By Rigoberto D. Tiglao)

One reason for the survival of the communist insurgency is that there are those, like many ex-activist University of the Philippines and Ateneo teachers now in their senior years, who naively believe that the violent organization behind it is doing something right: effectively putting pressure on the elites to reform the country’s social structure. Thus, they refuse to join, and even condemn, President Rodrigo Duterte’s war against this blood-thirsty insurgency.

They should think through the only three possible scenarios involving this armed challenge to our democratic way of life, and realize how ignorant and foolish such a stance is.

One scenario, the least unlikely is that the New People’s Army would be at par with the Armed Forces of the Philippines in terms of military strength. Using the term plagiarized from Mao Zedong by the megalomaniac Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Ma. Sison to fool young idealists into joining his mad revolution, this would be the revolution’s stage of “strategic stalemate,” which comes after the strategic-defensive stage and before the strategic offensive.

But what is the reality behind Sison’s romanticization of the stages of revolution?

In the Vietnam war that ended in 1975, estimates of the casualties of the Communist North’s revolutionary armed struggle, in which the United States backed the South, stand at 3.5 million Vietnamese combatants and civilians from both sides.

C’mon, whatever utopia Sison promises, it will be at the cost of at least 3.5 million Filipino lives in the revolutionary war — using the Vietnam casualties to estimate it.

Wars, of course, involve civilian casualties outside of actual combat, due to hunger, disease and the overall disruption of the economy that would worsen poverty Sison’s “revolutionary war,” therefore, could even cost the lives of at least 10 million Filipinos. I don’t have any doubt that Sison and his inner circle’s mindset is that of the Cambodian Khmer Rouge leaders — especially Pol Pot — responsible for the genocide of 1. 7 urban Cambodians he believed could not be “reformed.”

I don’t think those who sympathize with the communist movement, thinking it is for some noble cause, have ever appreciated the full implications of the communist insurgency.



If the NPA ever becomes as strong as the AFP, the Syrian civil war would look like a skirmish in comparison.

If you need images of what the communists’ romanticized “armed struggle” would result in, think of the ongoing civil war in Syria (population 20 million), which would look like a skirmish, compared with the bloodbath that would occur if ever the New People’s Army manages to “encircle the cities,” as Mao and Sison described the strategic offensive of a “people’s war.”

Deluded Sison

 But that scenario could occur only in Sison’s sick mind. He is so deluded to think that the NPA in this day and age would win and topple the Philippine Republic. With our decades of democracy and with most Filipinos being Catholic, they would wage such a ferocious war against the NPA that would rival the Russian and Chinese revolutions in horror. We have already seen glimpses of such gruesomeness in the 1970s, when bands of purportedly Christian — mostly Ilonggo armed groups — showed no mercy in attacking Muslim secessionists, and in the 1980s, when the Alsa Masa executed NPAs and their supporters in Davao City.

Sison and his gang are trapped in the past. When he founded the CPP and the NPA in the late 1960s, there was a “revolutionary flow” of sorts in Latin America and in Indo-China, with even the youth mesmerized into rebellion by such images of heroes such as Che Guevarra and Ho Chi Minh. The Latin American insurgencies, though, were wiped out, while the Vietnamese revolution won because it had the most necessary ingredient for victory: a physical base — North Vietnam — where the revolutionaries could take refuge.

The Philippine Communists do not have such a refuge. China, which supported the North Vietnamese, had long abandoned Mao’s dream of fomenting communist revolution all over the world. The communists also grew because they managed to fool Filipinos that the one-man Marcos rule was a fascist regime and that they were democratic forces Filipinos should support. There is no longer a Marcos type of one-man rule, and there will never be again.

Does Sison think that the world — even China and Russia, and especially our neighbors in the region — would idly watch a communist force take over the Philippines, which would make the entire region so unstable and volatile that it would even disrupt, not just the regional, but the world economy?

The second scenario is really what has been happening since President Corazon Aquino’s regime and the Yellows saw the communists as allies, just because they were vehemently anti-Marcos.

With the communists’ influence over media since the movement’s birth in the country (with journalists like Satur Ocampo and the late Antonio Zumel their early recruits), presidents since Aquino have believed their lie that they wanted peace, as long as the reforms they had been aiming for were undertaken and their demand for some power in government was granted. Thus, they had been enthusiastic in undertaking peace talks while they revived their NPA units, which the military had routed.

Hinterlands

 And so the sad situation of the armed insurgent group of at most 4,000 rebels — miniscule compared with the 350,000 men of the country’s armed forces and police — moving around in the hinterlands, mostly in the poorest regions in Mindanao, occasionally routed by the military, is such that these remnants survive only because of the support of media and their cadres posing as democratic representatives in Congress through the party-list system.

Once in a while, of course, the NPA would attack remote military and police outposts and assassinate political leaders who do not cooperate with them, so that Sison could portray it as a significant force with whom the government has to talk peace. As any cult with determined leaders does, it manages to fool and recruit the most gullible and angst-filled students, hallucinating that they would be noble revolutionaries who would kill and die for what is really a lost cause.

And so the Philippines remains as the only nation in Asia with a communist insurgency, which, even if it is too small to be able to topple the Republic, pulls down our country’s image, as one politically unstable, with peace and order beyond its control.

The third scenario would happen if the government bit the bullet, and with the nation rallying behind it, finally obliterated the communist insurgency with all the military and political forces it could mobilize. Duterte seems to have decided for this scenario.

However, it still remains to be seen whether he would really unleash the full might of the military against the communists, on a scale that former President Joseph Estrada did against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in 2000, which made the Islamic insurgency sue for peace.

If Duterte chooses that option, this anachronistic insurgency, after half a century, guided by a megalomaniac, fast-becoming senile man living in the Netherlands and led by equally aging revolutionaries trapped in their 1970s mindsets, will be defeated, and the country will start enjoying an era of peace.

It is high time for every Filipino to choose: Scenario One that would result in at least 10 million Filipinos killed in a useless civil war; Scenario Two, which would make the insurgency fester in the nation’s body like boils, pulling down the Philippines; or Scenario Three, which would seem to be a hard choice, but really, if you really, really think about it, is our only alternative.

Email: tiglao.manilatimes@gmail.com
Facebook: Rigoberto Tiglao
Twitter: @bobitiglao
Archives at: www.rigobertotiglao.com

https://www.manilatimes.net/only-three-scenarios-for-the-communist-insurgency/491508/