THE New People’s Army (NPA) launched 10 coordinated attacks in three provinces in Bicol on March 10 and 11, hitting detachments manned by soldiers and paramilitary men.
In a report, National Democratic Front-Bicol (NDF-Bicol) spokesman Greg Banares said the attacks were staged in response to the “public clamor” to punish the soldiers undertaking the so-called peace and development efforts under Oplan Bayanihan (OPB) for committing human-rights violations, murdering and threatening people suspected of supporting the NPA and the revolutionary movement, and for ruining the people’s livelihood. The attacks, Banares said, affected elements of the 9th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army.
“The Red fighters of the NPA-Celso Minguez Command in Sorsogon attacked simultaneously at 10 p.m. on March 10 the detachments of the 22nd Infantry Battalion [IB] and the 31st IB in the province,” he said.
Among the detachments of the 22nd IB-Cafgu hit were those in barangays Casay, Casiguran; Purog, Bulusan; Baligang, Gubat; San Roque, Bacon; and a detachment guarding a Globe cell site in Banwang Daan, Matnog.
The detachments of the 31st IB attacked were those in Sitio Bungsaran, Barangay Rizal, Gubat; and another one in Barangay Rizal, Casiguran.
“The NPA-Santos Binamira Command in Albay also nearly simultaneously attacked two detachments of the 22nd IB in the province, with the detachment of the 22nd IB-Cafgu in Barangay Palanog, Camalig, being hit at 10 p.m. on March 10 and another detachment in Barangay Villa Petrona, Libon, being attacked at 11 p.m.,” Banares said.
Guerrillas of the NPA-Eduardo Olbara Command in Camarines Sur also assaulted a “peace and development team” of the 42nd IB in Barangay Sooc, Bato, at noon on March 11.
“All these actions were in response to the people’s demand for the NPA to punish the abusive troops of the 9th ID, who have a long bloody record of human-rights abuses, including the illegal arrest, search and seizures, abduction, torture, murder, harassment and threats, and the destruction of the people’s livelihood,” Banares said.
He said that on February 25, thousands of people in Camarines Sur, Albay and Sorsogon marched to expose and oppose the brutality of the OPB, which they demanded to be dismantled.
“The protesters converged in Bato, Camarines Sur; in Guinobatan, Albay; and in Barcelona, Sorsogon, to demand the ouster of soldiers undertaking ‘peace and development activities’ in their communities, an end to OPB and justice for the victims of human-rights abuses,” Banares said.
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