NPA justifies Aug. 2 attack on gov't troops in Abra

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – Communist rebels on Tuesday said the government troops they attacked in the northern province of Abra last week were not on “outreach mission" as claimed by the military but were on an offensive. And contrary to the military’s claim that only two soldiers were killed and two others were injured in the clash, the rebels said the casualty count was actually higher, due in part to the army’s “gross negligence in transporting and treating their wounded, prioritizing only the injured officers." An e-mailed press statement of the Agustin Begnalen Command, the New People's Army (NPA) unit operating in the tri-boundaries of Abra, Ilocos Sur and Mountain Province, said the rebels used a command-detonated claymore mine during the ambush in barangay Duldulao in the remote municipality of Malibcong, Abra at about 1:30 p.m. on August 2. “There were only 4 soldiers immediately killed. However, two among the wounded immediately died before they were able to transport them out of Duldulao. As of August 4, testimonies from people in the localities and in funeral homes attest to the fact that the number of those killed rose to 11…," said the rebel statement. Diego Wadagan, the NPA command's spokesperson, said "two of the 9 wounded soldiers later died at the hospital" in Bangued, the provincial capital. Wadagan said the rebels could have inflicted more casualties had they not been spread thin. Only six rebels actually engaged the soldiers, she said. The statement also twitted the military for saying they initiated the attack, saying that it was the “NPA team that took the initiative, and was swift and decisive in defeating the enemy platoon." Both groups agreed that all of the soldiers were from Bravo Company of the Philippine Army’s 41st Infantry Battalion. But the rebels said Lt. Eduard Sia-ed, spokesman of the battalion, not only “lied" about the casualty count but also by saying the soldiers led by 2nd Lt. Regie Go were on a community-related mission when the fighting took place. In a statement posted on the New People’s Army (NPA) website PRWC on Tuesday, the rebels said the ambushed troops were part of a military operation to ensure that big mining companies would conduct exploration activities in the municipalities of Baay-Licuan, Malibcong, Lacub, Tineg, Daguioman and Sallapadan, all in Abra. The rebel statement said their contention was supported by a statement attributed by media to Maj. Gen. Isagani Cachuela, chief of the military's Northern Luzon Command based in Tarlac City. Cachuela was quoted saying Friday's clash was initiated by Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) troops belonging to the army's 5th Infantry Division based in Gamu, Isabela. "Despite the overwhelming rejection by the people of Baay-Licuan of the Olympus-Pacific exploration, mining interests are hell-bent in extracting the gold and copper mineral deposits in the province, with forces of the 503rd Brigade deployed as security forces of the mining companies," Wadagan said in the press release. Maj. Gen. Melchor Dilo-dilo, 5th ID commanding general, denied their presence has something to do with mining. The army's presence is "widely welcomed by the people," Dilo-dilo said in an earlier press statement. The military has claimed that the recent upsurge in attacks by the NPA in northern Luzon was just an act of desperation to show that they are still active. Rebels, on the other hand, claim their forces and supporters continue to grow in number, aided by the increasing corruption under President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s administration and alleged abuses by the military. Peace negotiations between the CPP-NPA and the government were suspended indefinitely four years ago when rebels assassinated a former lawmaker in Cagayan province and when the Philippine government refused to ask the US government and European Union to remove their “terrorist tag" on the rebel movement. – Abe Almirol, GMANews.tv