RIGOBERTO F. SANCHEZ
Spokesperson, Merardo Arce Command
NPA Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command
As the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the US-Aquino regime resumed its fascist counterrevolutionary campaign in the typhoon-ravaged countryside, the New People’s Army (NPA) secured two prisoners of war and defeated a military raid against a detached team of NPA political officers in Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental provinces. This, after the Merardo Arce Command-Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command-NPA has directed all its units to take active military offensive stance after it lifted its temporary ceasefire on 15 January.
In an NPA checkpoint, operatives from the Guerilla Front 34 Operations Command arrested and detained 60th Infantry Battalion’s Pfc. Jesrel Colanggo, and SPO1 Ruel Pasion of the Philippine National Police on 17 January 2013, at around 8:00 AM in Barangay (village) Mangloy, Laak town. The NPA also confiscated a 45 caliber pistol in their possession.
The two prisoners of war are being treated well, their safety are of primordial consideration, as the NPA abides by the tenets of international humanitarian law.
The NPA checkpoint was conducted to prevent undesirable elements and to counter the fascist Special Operations Team of the 60th Infantry Battalion under the AFP’s Oplan Bayanihan. The 60th IB’s bloody record against the masses included the summary execution of peasant Totong Mabinse of Barangay Datu in Laak town, and the forced recruitment and coercive surrender of peasants.
The day before, on 16 January, the troops of the 67th and 72nd Infantry Battalions raided a detached team of NPA political officers belonging to the Guerilla Front 15 Operations Command in Sitio Limot, Barangay Binondo, in Baganga town, Davao Oriental at around 7 AM. The Red fighters were alerted and battled it out in a counter-defensive measure, but the team left its two high-powered rifles at the scene.
The Red fighters have detached from the main front guerilla unit at the time of the ceasefire to solicit goods for the relief and rehabilitation program of the People’s Democratic Government for the Typhoon Pablo victims.
In the ongoing brigade-wide operations of the 67th IB and 28th IB of the 701st Brigade in the towns of Baganga, Manay, Mati and Lupon in Davao Oriental, the AFP troops have gone berserk in violating the human rights of the poor, suffering Typhoon Pablo victims. The fascist troops blocked the entry and exit of residents in Sitios Tigbawan, Limot, Mantapay and Bagangan of Barangay Binondo in Baganga town, and Sitios 72 and Tangaan of Barangay Manurigao in New Bataan town.
The NPA perseveres in taking part of the People’s Democratic Government’s medium-term program for the recovery of damaged farms and livelihood of suffering masses in Typhoon Pablo-hit areas in the region. As the people’s war escalates, it will defeat the abusive and deceptive Oplan Bayanihan that has made the lives of Typhoon Pablo victims worse than ever.
(Sgd.) Rigoberto F. Sanchez
Spokesperson, Merardo Arce Command
Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command
New People’s Army