Eastmincom: NPAs retreat to ‘unfamiliar’ Moro areas

From the Business Mirror (Jan 27, 2022): Eastmincom: NPAs retreat to ‘unfamiliar’ Moro areas (By MANUEL CAYON)

The Armed Forces’ Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) said it has pushed New People’s Army guerrillas further into areas populated by Moro residents in the central Mindanao province of Lanao del Sur.

It said it was an unlikely occurrence for the guerrillas to venture into the Moro lands, but Eastmincom commander Lt. Gen. Greg T. Almerol said the NPAs were probably seeking refuge in an “unfamiliar terrain” after they were pushed out from their territories in Bukidnon after a series of armed skirmishes in the last two weeks.

He said the presence of the NPAs in Moro areas was confirmed after government soldiers figured in armed skirmishes in the tri-boundaries of the municipalities of Amai Manabilang, Lumba-Bayabao, and Maguing, all in Lanao del Sur on January 20.

Almerol said soldiers seized firearms and war materiel. In one encounter which lasted for two hours, soldiers collected two M-16 rifles, an M-653 rifle, an M-14 rifle, an AK-47 rifle, assorted magazines for M-16, M-14 and AK-47, five linked ammunitions for M-60 GPMG, 208 rounds of AK-47 ammunitions, three bandoliers, four cellphones, assorted medical supplies and paraphernalia, backpacks with personal belongings, subversive documents, and food supplies.

There was no casualty reported in the clash but soldiers said they found bloodstains along the withdrawal route of the rebels.

The skirmish came after soldiers pursued the trail of a group of guerrillas they have encountered in the previous days in Bukidnon.

Almerol said the fleeing guerillas may number to about 30. He said soldiers of the 403rd Brigade’s 1st Special Forces Battalion (SFBn) were pursuing “the remnants of North Central Mindanao Regional Committee’s [NCMRC] Sub-Regional Committee 4 [SRC4] and SRC5 in said area.”

He said soldiers from the 1st SFBn encountered the same NPA unit on January 8, which killed an alias Rasty/Ade/Hansel, the alleged political officer and team leader of Sub-Regional Sentro De Grabidad (SRSDG) Crackers Company of SRC5, NCMRC. Soldiers collected an M-60 GPMG, an M-4 rifle, M-16 rifle, M-14 rifle and an M-1 Garand rifle.

https://businessmirror.com.ph/2022/01/27/eastmincom-npas-retreat-to-unfamiliar-moro-areas/