A New People's Army rebel is killed in Makilala, North Cotabato, in the first fatal encounter to disrupt the 5-month-old ceasefire
FIRST SHOT. It is believed to be the first armed encounter between the military and the New People's Army since both issued separate ceasefire declarations in August 2016. Photo from the military
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the communist New People's Army (NPA) confirmed they exchanged gunfire in Makilala, North Cotabato over the weekend while their negotiators were talking peace in Rome.
A communist rebel was killed in an hour-long exchange of gunfire with the military at Sitio Lokatong in Barangay Biangan on Saturday afternoon, January 21, in the first armed encounter to disrupt the 5-month-old indefinite ceasefires separately declared in August 2016. (READ: Gov't in backchannel talks to protect ceasefire)
Another 30-minute firefight erupted on Sunday morning, January 22, when the troops returned to clear the area. Troops recovered the body of a rebel they identified as Rojit Estampa Ranara, 33, of the Guerrilla Front 51 of the NPA Southern Mindanao Regional Committee. He was reportedly a resident of nearby province Davao del Sur.
In a statement, the NPA claimed they killed 8 soldiers in the encounter. The military denied this.
The military's Eastern Mindanao Command chief, Lieutenant General Ray Guerrero, told Rappler on Sunday it was a legitimate operation in support of the local police.
"It was a law enforcement operation by the Makilala police against an armed group of extortionists. The 39th Infantry Battalion (IB) provided supporting elements to the PNP," Guerrero told Rappler Sunday afternoon.
The NPA Regional Operations Command in southern Mindanao accused the military of violating its own ceasefire.
"The Duterte government must know by now that it is the bullish insincerity of its armed forces to continue its counter-insurgency campaign that is the biggest impediment in the quest for just and lasting peace," the NPA Regional Operations Command, Southern Mindanao Region said in a statement.
While in Rome
The peace panels of the government and the communist-led National Democratic Front were signing supplemental guidelines that were meant to empower the languishing Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC), the body tasked to monitor and investigate allegations of human rights abuses by state forces and communist rebels.
The government panel seeks to elevate the unilateral ceasefire declarations to a bilateral ceasefire deal that will put in place common rules for the military and the NPA in order to avoid misencounters.
The peace panels have not issued statements on the encounter.
Extortion or sabotage?
RECOVERED ITEMS. Firearms and personal possessions were among those recovered at the encounter site. Photo from the military
Both camps have accused each other of abusing the ceasefire, with the military supposedly occupying communities and conducting intelligence operations against suspected rebels and the NPA supposedly continuing its extortion activities against businessmen.
Captain Rhyan Bathar, spokesperson of the 10th Infantry Division based in nearby Compostela Valley, said the troops were pursuing a group of armed men that was reported by the police to be extorting from a construction company when they were fired upon Saturday afternoon.
Bathar said the local police sought military assistance when Santos Land Development Corporation (SLDC) reported that its company driver was being threatened by 4 armed men in Makilala.
"The driver of the 10-wheeler truck reported that the armed men fired at him and threatened that the management will suffer the consequences if they fail to give in to their extortion demands. After which, the armed men forcibly took the key of the said truck and escaped immediately," said Bathar.
The military claimed to have recovered several extortion letters at the abandoned encounter site.
REBEL NEWSPAPER? A newspaper reporting on the ongoing peace talks was among those recovered from the possession of the slain NPA rebel. Photo from the military
"Sitio Lokatong in Barangay Biangan is a remote area that their presence can only mean an offensive operation against the NPA. They fool no one by claiming that their combat operation was merely in response to reports by local authorities of the presence of lawless groups: for the entire day, they actively maneuvered to engage the evading unit of the NPA," the NPA statement said.
"For more than 3 months, the ceasefire only existed because the NPA was consciously maneuvering its forces in order to avoid armed skirmish in the face of unrelenting combat operations of AFP and PNP troops," the NPA statement said.
The local chapter of rights group Karapatan fears the clash was meant to sabotage the peace talks.
"Para sa amin sa Karapatan, isa itong sabotahe sa (Karapatan fears that this happened to sabotage) ongoing peace talks between GRP and NDF. Mayroong mga grupo kahit diyan sa government at AFP na ayaw nila ng ceasefire (There are groups in the government and the AFP that do not want a ceasefire)," Karapatan-North Cotabato officer Joy Mirasol told Rappler in a phone interview.
http://www.rappler.com/nation/159168-soldiers-communist-rebel-clash-break-ceasefire
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