Google map of Lianga town, Surigao del Sur.
The Philippine Army said it has uncovered an alleged plan of the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), to force Indigenous People (IP) residents in a village in Lianga, Surigao del Sur for a "staged evacuation."
In a statement on Wednesday, 1Lt. Krisjuper Andreo Punsalan, civil-military operations (CMO) officer of the Army's 3rd Special Forces Battalion (3SFBn), said the information was given to the Army on Tuesday by an informant who attended the actual planning of the "staged evacuation."
Punsalan said the staged evacuation is known in the NPA movement as "taktikang bakwit" (evacuation tactic)."
Based on the revelation of the informant whose identity is withheld for security reasons, Punsalan said the staged evacuation will be spearheaded by a leftist Indigenous Peoples' group Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang sa mga Sumusunod (MAPASU).
Punsalan said the planning was conducted at the residence of a certain Alex Booc, a member of MAPASU in Sitio Emerald, Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur.
The meeting was held a day after the NPA fired an M203 grenade launcher in Sitio Emerald that wounded three civilians on Feb. 21, he added.
“They will organize the people of Sitio Emerald in Kilometer 10 and Sitio Han-ayan in Kilometer 16, all in Diatagon for the staged evacuation to Surigao City,” Punsalan said.
He added that Sitio Emerald and Sitio Han-ayan are among the areas in Kilometer 9, Diatagon, that have not been reached by the Army's Community Support Teams (CSTs). The villages are known flashpoints for NPA activities.
Upon learning of the plan, Punsalan said most of the residents of Kilometer 9 have signified their refusal to join the alleged staged evacuation.
In a statement on Wednesday, 1Lt. Krisjuper Andreo Punsalan, civil-military operations (CMO) officer of the Army's 3rd Special Forces Battalion (3SFBn), said the information was given to the Army on Tuesday by an informant who attended the actual planning of the "staged evacuation."
Punsalan said the staged evacuation is known in the NPA movement as "taktikang bakwit" (evacuation tactic)."
Based on the revelation of the informant whose identity is withheld for security reasons, Punsalan said the staged evacuation will be spearheaded by a leftist Indigenous Peoples' group Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang sa mga Sumusunod (MAPASU).
Punsalan said the planning was conducted at the residence of a certain Alex Booc, a member of MAPASU in Sitio Emerald, Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur.
The meeting was held a day after the NPA fired an M203 grenade launcher in Sitio Emerald that wounded three civilians on Feb. 21, he added.
“They will organize the people of Sitio Emerald in Kilometer 10 and Sitio Han-ayan in Kilometer 16, all in Diatagon for the staged evacuation to Surigao City,” Punsalan said.
He added that Sitio Emerald and Sitio Han-ayan are among the areas in Kilometer 9, Diatagon, that have not been reached by the Army's Community Support Teams (CSTs). The villages are known flashpoints for NPA activities.
Upon learning of the plan, Punsalan said most of the residents of Kilometer 9 have signified their refusal to join the alleged staged evacuation.
“Most of Kilometer 9 residents now realize that staged evacuations are meant to accuse the military of harassments and other forms of human rights violations,” he added.
Punsalan said staged evacuations have been employed by the NPA and their front organizations to blunt the peace and development efforts of the government and expel the military in rebel-influenced areas.
Lt. Col. Joey B. Baybayan, commander of 3SFBn, said the NPA uses the "old strategy when CNTs (Communist New People’s Army Terrorists) are affected because their underground mass organizations that serve as their lifelines are unearthed and neutralized."
Baybayan said that NPA leaders are now feeling the brunt of the positive effects of the "whole-of-nation approach" of the government to end local armed conflicts brought by the communist insurgency in the countryside.
The delivery of services to far-flung and rebel-influenced areas has caused the NPA to become "insignificant and irrelevant," he said.
Punsalan said that “if this reported and alleged plan will materialize, then it goes to show that “taktikang bakwit” is not a natural occurrence but the handiwork of no less than the CNTs, MAPASU and their front groups."
He also took note of the fact that MAPASU is led by the Campos family in the area, whose known leaders include Pablito Sinzo Campos, a captured NPA leader.
Pablito Campos’ siblings, identified as Gloria Campos Tumalon, Jalandoni Campos, and Imelda Campos Belandres, continue to stand as leaders of MAPASU, he said.
Another sibling, Eufemia Campos Cullamat is the present representative of party-list group Bayan Muna in Congress, the Army official said.
“If this strategy (taktikang bakwit) will not materialize, well and good. If it will happen today or within the next days, then we already know the pattern and the script that leads us to the truth that it is nothing but a concept of the communist NPA terrorist movement,” he added.
The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1094825
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