Opinion: More on the NPA in Panay and Negros

Opinion piece By Marit Stinus-Cabugon in the Manila Times (Sep 17): Opinion: More on the NPA in Panay and Negros

A BELATED congratulations to the Philippine Army’s 301st Infantry Brigade, Antique Provincial Mobile Force Company and San Jose Police Station for neutralizing seven key officials of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People´s Army (CPP-NPA) Panay in a firefight in San Jose, Antique, last August 15. Congratulations not for the killing of the seven because it would have been better to have taken them alive, but for neutralizing them. Felix Salditos, Eldie Labinghisa, Peter Mecinas, Karen Ceralvo and Liezl Bandiola were education and propaganda staff of the CPP while Jason Talibo and Jason Sanchez were there to “provide technical services,” according to National Democratic Front-Panay.

The army and the police claimed that some of the fatalities were involved in extortion or collection of so-called revolutionary tax, something that NDF-Panay denies. Jason Talibo was wanted for frustrated murder, while Joven Ceralvo—who was one of those who managed to escape—allegedly participated in the June 18, 2017 raid on the police station in Maasin, Iloilo.

Whether involved in extortion or education, the slain CPP members were not ordinary foot soldiers. Without their extensive education and propaganda work, the NPA and its front organizations could neither recruit members nor gain and maintain support locally and abroad. Most of the casualties might indeed have been unarmed as claimed by the NDF—they were non-combatants—but knowing who they were and what they were doing, it is impossible to believe that they would just be sleeping innocently on the floor without having armed comrades standing guard, ready to open fire.

To show that the communist armed struggle in Panay hasn’t lost steam despite the loss of key officers, the NPA has staged several attacks since then. On August 24, they ambushed the police in Leon, Iloilo. On September 6, there were encounters in Maayon, Capiz, and Leon. Most recently, on September 8, an encounter in Janiuay, Iloilo, cost the life of a member of the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (Cafgu). The local police force and the Army’s 61st Infantry Battalion claim that the encounter had preempted bomb attacks by the NPA on the towns of Lambunao and Cabatuan during their town fiestas (The Daily Guardian, September 12). However, it would be uncharacteristic of the NPA to deliberately risk a large number of civilian casualties.

While authorities in Panay scored big against the NPA with the August 15 operation in Antique, the NPA continues to play hide and seek with security forces in Negros. On August 30, the NPA’s Mt. Cansermon Command liquidated barangay chairman Mario Gonzales of Panciao, Manjuyod in Negros Oriental. A few days later, an encounter followed in the same barangay between the NPA and the 15th Infantry Battalion. Twelve families had to be evacuated. Manjuyod, which has been a peaceful town for so long, is adjacent to Mabinay where UP Cebu graduate Myles Albasin, Caloy Ybañez of Mandaue City, and four locals, were arrested in March. Ms Albasin was reportedly doing education and propaganda work, while her armed male companions were securing her.

Next to landlocked Mabinay is Kabankalan where the Mt. Cansermon Command last May burned a bunkhouse and a backhoe belonging to the National Irrigation Administration, and later engaged the 62nd Infantry Battalion in a firefight that claimed the lives of two soldiers and one NPA, with eight soldiers wounded.

Further north, in Guihulngan City, the killings continue. When businesswoman Heidi Malalay Flores was killed by motorcycle-riding assassins last August 21, it is said that she was on the kill list of a local vigilante group called Kawsa sa Guihulnganon Batok Druga ug Komunista. On September 7, Jail Officer 2 Val Daniel Rivera Guzman was shot dead by motorcycle-riding gunmen in Brgy. McKinley. The victim had been assigned at Canlaon City jail since April but had previously worked at the Guihulngan District Jail. The NPA’s Leonardo Panaligan Command claims that a certain “Vigilante sa Guihulngan ug tibuok isla sa Negros” group was behind the killing of the jail guard. Central Visayas Police Regional Director Debold Sinas’ pep talk to the Guihulngan City policemen last month neither stopped the killings nor resulted in the solving of previous ones.

The charges against three suspects in the murder of radio broadcaster Edmund Sestoso—who was killed in Dumaguete City on April 30—have been dismissed by the Dumaguete City prosecutor for insufficiency of evidence. The testimony of the “star witness” was full of holes and hearsay statements and was contradicted by other eyewitnesses. The police wanted to pin Sestoso’s murder on alleged NPA leader Rene Bustamante after having failed to have him convicted for the murder of a former NPA supporter and illegal possession of explosives in 2014. The second suspect in the Sestoso case was gunned down in La Libertad two months ago while the third was wounded in the same attack. Justice for Sestoso seems more elusive than ever.

https://www.manilatimes.net/more-on-the-npa-in-panay-and-negros/442170/