NPA: Top brass camp visits can’t stop rebel offensives

Not even troop visitations by the heads of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines can slow down the New People’s Army’s latest tactical offensives. This was the NPA’s latest taunt to the police and military after NPAs disarmed the PNP municipal headquarters and the 36th Infantry Battalion in Lingig, Surigao del Sur. “Pronouncements and actions made by the AFP/PNP top brass will remain as ‘fighting words and stance’ intended to please the embattled GMA, score points in grandstanding and put their post-retirement jobs within the GRP bureaucracy in the bag," said Rigoberto Sanchez, spokesman of the Medardo Arce Command and the Southern Mindanao regional operation command. He said not even AFP chief of staff Generoso Senga’s security directives and PNP chief Arturo Lomibao’s troop visits can prevent the NPA from intensifying its offensives. Last Sunday, the NPA entered the poblacion of Lingig, Surigao del Sur and disarmed the PNP Municipal headquarters and elements of the 36th IB. “Without (the NPA) firing a single shot, 24 firearms were confiscated during the guerilla operation, which lasted 20 minutes," the NPA said. Sanchez said the seized firearms included three M-203 grenade launchers, 10 M-16 Armalites, one 12-gauge shotgun, four cal-.45 pistols, one 9-mm pistol, three cal-.38 revolvers, and two cal-.357 pistols. Also seized were various logistics and ammunition. He said this was the seventh raid of PNP municipal headquarters in Southern Mindanao and adjacent towns since September 2002, and has allowed the formation of at least another fully armed NPA company-size formation last year. On the other hand, Sanchez noted that last Sunday’s raid came nearly a month after Lomibao visited Loreto town in Agusan del Sur following a raid there. This, he added, was despite the onslaught of massive operations by the 36th Infantry Battalion and 28th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army. AFP spokesman Col. Tristan Kison, said the military are still in hot pursuit of the rebel band somewhere in the hinterlands of Lingig town. Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Francisco Simbajon, spokesman of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, said the pursuing government troops were ambushed by the same rebel group. He said one of the insurgents died while five soldiers were wounded in the ambush at the village of Anibongan in Lingig town. Military officials identified the wounded soldiers only as Cpls. Pacudan, Misuari, Valdez and Pfcs. Goloran and Bandibas. Simbajon said they were still establishing the identity of the alleged slain NPA guerilla. Troops from the 36th Infantry Battalion were on board a 6x6 truck when they were waylaid by undetermined number of rebels at around 6:15 a.m. last Monday, triggering a firefight between the two sides. Simbajon said the troops were among those who were deployed to help in tracking down the rebels who abducted Lingig town Mayor Roberto Luna from his residence in Mundas, Lingig. “In all these tactical offensives, the superiority of guerilla tactics employed in the current stage of the people’s war and the participation of the revolutionary mass base are clearly manifested. Suffice to say that no amount of AFP-PNP-paramilitary offensive operations and US Army-sponsored ‘Balikatan’ training of the puppet troops can prevent the advance of the revolutionary armed struggle," Sanchez said. -GMANEWS.TV