The incessant tit-for-tat of the "Child Warrior" game, a pitiful approximation of PSYOPS (Psychological Warfare) is as strong as ever. As I have outlined in at least one other post concerning the NPA, LOAC/IHL (Laws of Armed Conflict/International Humanitarian Law) allows combatants as young as 14 to legally participate in armed conflict though within the last generation it has become increasingly rare to find any fighters younger than 16. Despite the legal threshold, internationally, being 14 one can regularly find both the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and the NPA (New Peoples Army) casting stones about 17 year old combatants. The piquant dialect of English spoken here in the Philippines has ordained the label "Child Warriors" as a catchphrase for both the fighters AND the issue itself.
In yet another example provided by the AFP's 10ID (Infantry Division), 73IB's C COY (Company C) captured a 15 year old courier for Front 71. The soldiers, upon entering a mountainside clearing sighted the youth lugging an over packed sack filled with ammo,fatigues and camp equipment. The AFP claims that the young man had recently been in two engagements with the AFP, the first in Janurary of 2009 and the second in Feburary of 2010. He was then turned over to DSWD (Dept. Social Welfare and Development) which then processed him and released him to his parents who, as is always the case, had no idea that their son was with the NPA.
On September 10, 2010 the AFP fired its latest salvo in this propaganda back and forth when the 10ID accused the NPA of recruiting four more minors from among the eleven residents of Barangay Baracatan in Davao City's Toril District. The eleven are currently undergoing the military phase of their training in Mt.Apo National Park with the NPA's Front 54 of the SMRC, or Southern Mindanao Regional Committee. Front 54 of course denies this accusation ,this time pointing to the bi-laterally ratified CARHRIHL (Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Law) from 1998, as well as a new defence, a 1999 directive from the CPP, or Communist Party of the Philippines, of which the NPA is merely the military arm. The Directive is from the CPP Executive Committee, the CPP organ from which the NPA takes its cues. The Directive, entitled, "Memorandum to the Minimum Age Required for NPA Fighters" basically rehashes CARHRHIL which was very recent at that point.
On September 19, 2010 in Sitio Kisoy in Barangay Anggas in the municipality of Alabel in Sarangani Province, the 73IB (Infantry Battalion) on routine patrol sighted what it believed to be two NPA guerillas sitting in a field, apparently taking a much needed break. Encircling the two they were closing in for what they had hoped would be a violence-free capture when one of the suspected guerillas ran towards a clifface and jumped, rolling down a very steep incline into the valley below and escaped. The second guerilla was then captured without firing a shot, apparently too stunned by what had just transpired.
Upon initial interrogation the guerilla in custody revealed that he was only 15 and not a guerilla at all, but a rather a less than willing guide for the actual guerilla, "Ka Arnold," who had jumped off the plateau. Christened "Ka Buboy" by the NPA who had periodically used him as a guide since age 12 he had been recieving a stipend from the NPA and also had apparently, wittingly or unwittingly, served as a courier as well. During his experience serving the NPA he had recently been through two fire fights in Barangay Datal Anggas, his village of residence. Asked what had attracted him to serve the insugent group he quickly answered that the chief benefit was the few pesos with which to help his impovershied family,who apprently had no idea (of course) of their son's involvement with the NPA.
The young man's presence was propagandised by the AFP's Lieutenant Colonel Medel Aguilar, CO, or Commanding Officer of the 10ID's CMOB (Civil-Military Operations Battalion) as a clearcut violation of both...big suprise here...IHL (International Humanitarian Law) and its subsidiary, LOAC (Laws of Armed Conflict). While that is ridiculous to anyone with even cursory knowledge of anything involved in this dynamic, the 73IB's CO, Lieutenant Colonel Edgardo DeLeon did bring up a valid point when he accused the NPA of committing yet another infraction against the bi-laterally ratified CARHRIL.
"Ka Arnold," the guerilla the 15 year old had been guiding, is a member of Team #1, Primera Squad (1st Squad), Platun Mazda (M Platoon), Front 71 of the FSMRC or Far South Mindanao Regional Committee. Front 71 is the only Front currently operating in Sarangani Province and its primary AOR, or Area of Responsibility (as in "Area of Operation") is in the Alabel and Malapatan municipalities and surrounding environs. The 73IB is deployed specifically to counter the Front and despite almost a year and a half of concerted efforts it has made very little headway. This is a problem in many areas where the government pays lip service to Development while merely utilising it as a catchword for dividing up the spoils amongst multi-nationals and bypassing all but a precious handful of locals usually already sitting pretty in positions of power and affluence.
The next day, September 20th, 2010, in Sitio Akbual in Barangay Upper Suyan in the town of Malapatan in Sarangani Province the 73IB was attacked by 10 guerillas from the afore mentioned Front 71. The AFP were acting as Security Escorts as the 10ID's CMOB was conducting an Anti-Dengue drive. For people perhaps unaware, Dengue is a mosquito borne disease that is often fatal and has shown increases into the triple digits in many areas of the island over the last 12 months- not too mention over much of the Southern and Central Philippines as well (actually the reportage protocols have changed and this is the primary mover behind the increase but hey, it keeps the local media busy so lets let them have their fun). Per this increase, three of the four IDs (Infantry Divisions) on mainland Mindanao have deployed their CMOBs in anti-Dengue efforts.
The next day, September 21st, the 4ID, based in Cagayan De Oro City's Camp Edilberto Evangelista turned over ISO (Internal Security Operations, which has evolved into a euphanism for COIN, i.e. "Counterinsurgency") to Misamis Oriental Province's PPOC (Provincial Peace and Order Council, an interface between the AFP and LGUs, i.e."Local Government Units," itself a euphanism for "municipality"), via Misamis Oriental Governor Oscar Moreno. The Sign-Over Ceremony took place on the Provincial Capitol Grounds. Essentially this means that the insurgency is now considered negligible to non-existent and that local law enforcement and LGUs are believed capable enough to handle any residual presence. It is worth noting that the 403Bde's (Brigade) CO (Commanding Officer), Col. Romeo Gapuz boldly stated that the NPA's Front 4B has been defeated. Famous last words...
That same day also within the 4ID's AOR (Area of Operations), in Barangay Valentina in the municipality of Esperanza in Agusan del Sur Province, the 26IB came across 10 guerillas from Front 8 of the NEMRC, or Northeast Mindanao Regional Committee and a 10 minute fire fight ensued. The clash resulted in the death of one guerilla and the capture of two M14s after the NPA withdrew from the scene. Esperanza is one of three spiritual capitals of the Higaon-on Tribe, a Lumad (Hill Tribe) group with branches in Bukidnon Province as well as in another spiritual capital, Claveria in Misamis Oriental Province.
Whole Claveria still has formidable NPA activity, despite the utterings at that afore mentioned ceremony, as well as absolutely no progress on the social and economic environments that breeds the insurgency, Esperanza is still in the thick of war with the NPA running parallel governments in almost all outlying barangays and the tribe is suffering terribly as it splits into (actually split three decades ago) into pro and anti-NPA factions, aggravated immensely by the AFP's Force Multiplication efforts aimed at the tribe. As I have mentioned in previous postings/entries I will delve into those efforts in great detail as soon as time allows.
September 24th, 2010 in Barangay Upper Suyan, again in the town of Malapatan in Sarangani Province, 40 year old Eliseo "Ka Bimbo" Tada of that same town and a Team Leader (most minor of NPA command positions, controls less than a single squad) in the NPA's Front 71 surrendered to the 39IB citing complications from malaria that he caught as a combatant deep in the bush, as well as homesickness for his family and village. He didnt turn in a weapon, as is the usual requirement for acceptance into the government's Social Integration Programme which provides immediate payouts for each weapon via the related "Balik Baril" ("Return a Rifle"), as well as Livlihood and Sustenance payouts, making it a formidable incentive for some. The AFP has claimed that the lack of weapon, which is extremely curious since Tada is said to have been a Team Leader, is due to his CO, "Ka Ronron," having seized his weapon, an M16, before allowing him to leave his detachment on September 12th.
That is the version prepared by the AFP spinmasters. The real story is a bit more understandable. Tada had left his camp on September 12th as he travelled to Davao City to seek treatment for his serious strain of malaria. As he passed thru the municipality of Malita in Davao del Sur Province he was taken into custody by the 39IB at an AFP Checkpoint. He was then paraded through the streets of that small town's Barangay Poblacion before entering the AFP Gulag. Perhaps the emnity of the AFP is also a bit more understandable when one realises that Tada is from the Team that had just engaged the 73IB in a fire fight on September 20th during the afore mentioned anti-Dengue Operation.
September 25th, 2010 in Sitio Taglawig in Barangay Panoraon in the town of Maco in ComVal (Compostela Valley) Province saw a platoon from the 71IB dispatched after intermittent reports or unknown armed men seen in the vicinity over a number of days. Upon scouring (going over a sector meter by meter) the sector the AFP discovered a recently erected camp with two platoons of NPA (roughly 60 guerillas). A 10 minute fire fight erupted with no casualties on either side as the NPA quickly withdrew from their camp. The presence of a camp in that sector bodes ill for the AFP and their intensified efforts in the region since the same battalion had recently launched a Civil-Military (Hearts and Minds, as in the military performing medical and social outreach to develop a rapport with the population) Operation there. Such operations involve a regular presence of a moderately sized detachment and the NPA's decison to encamp there shows that it has little to fear at the moment.
September 29th, 2010 in Barangay Bagampasan in the municipality of Don Victoriano Chiongbian in Misamis Occidental, an AFP detachment on patrol unexpectedly came across a detachment of NPA as the soldiers entered a clearing on a hillside. During the subsequent 1 hour fire fight five soldiers and a staff seargent were wounded by an M203 grenade. What was it that the good Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Gapuz had said about Front 4B?
That same day, September 29th, in Barangay Fatima in Davao City's Paquibato District in Davao del Sur Province, the NPA's 1st Pulang Bagani Company (Red Warriors Company) ambushed an AFP detachment though for once it was an opportunistic endeavour since all planned ambuscades by the Pulang Bagani (there are three companies though its parent formation FSMRC pretends there are five) involve IEDs,which the AFP likes to spin as "landmines" while claiming that they are illegal under IHL/LOAC. Since these IEDs are always command controlled (detonated purposefully by remote) they are absolutely legal in warfare.
On October 1st,2010 in Purok#5 of Barangay San Isidro in the town of Lianga in the Andap Complex of Surigao del Sur Province, 9 guerillas from Front 19A attacked an SCAA post attached to SUDECOR (Surigao Development Corp.), a private logging concern involved in heavy deforestation of Anadap, one of the last remaining large strands of virgin timber in the Mindanowan jungle. Unbeknownst to the guerillas, the post sublimated to the 23IB and led by Corporal Singson, of the 23IB's C COY (Comapny C) was hosting an element from the 75IB so that instead of the usual single AFP NCO ( Non-Commissioned Officer), in charge of unmotivated local tribesmen, the post was swarming with AFP. After 15 minutes of heavy back and forth the NPA withdrew back into the Diwata Mountains.
I have written about the SCAA (Special Civilain Active Auxiliary), akin to CAFGU but entirely funded by private sources,such as large businesses though the AFP now tries to bar large landholders who merely engage in agricultural pursuits since it lends an air of Feudalism and plays directly into the hands of NPA propagandists. The Andap Complex that I mentioned in the preceeding paragraph is the area between the municipalities of Tandag, Tago, Cagwait, San Agustin, Marihatag and Lianga in Surigao del Sur Province directly bordering Agusan del Sur Province. Heavily forested so that it is an objective in many GPH (Govt.of the Philippines) Develpment schemes. At the moment there are 42 MPSAs (Mineral Production Sharing Agreements), 73 MEPs (Mineral Exploration Permits) and heavy Timber and Coal Concessions as well.
An unfortunate dichotomy in COIN (Counterinsurgency Warfare) in that to defeat the political end of the dynamic, by far its largest facet, Infrastructural and Economic Development must take place on a considerable scale. In a Maoist-centric insurgency, such as the one being waged by the NPA, practically the entire struggle takes place in a rural theater of operations. Ergo, to attempt to defeat the insurgency the government must put forth great effort in tranforming the economic, infrastructural and social landscape. The contradiction in objectives enters when one realises that when the government begins undertaking this great endeavour it must enter into "bargains with the devil," the "devil" in this case being unscrupulous private developers who almost always engage in large scale exploitation of the local populace and enviornment thus breeding a new generation of recruits for the insurgency.
Social Development never comes close to even keeping pace with the other forms of development and these social ills that result defeat the government's larger, greater objective of neutralising the insurgency. Round and round it goes so that the actual objective morphs into just trying to keep the violence down to a somewhat manageable pace, where the local populace can grasp some sort of semblance to "normal" life.
October 7th, 2010 in Purok #8 of Barangay Carmen in Davao City's Baguio District in Davao del Sur Province, the 84IB was Clearing the sector when they unexpectedly came across a platoon from the NPA's Front 54. After a rough fire fight the NPA guerillas withdrew to Barangay Tamayong in the adhacent district of Calinan, as a running fire fight then transpired the guerillas split into detachments before regrouping in Sitio Ligabato back in Barangay Carmen where they had first been encountered. Ligabato had been the site of their temporary encampment which they then had to hastily abandon before withdrawing deeper into the mountains outside Davao City limits.
In non-military developments, Jorge "Ka Oris" Madlos, the NDFP (National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the NPA/CPP linked umbrella organisation that comprises all left wing sectoral organisations sympathetic to or directly aligned with NPA/CPP objectives) Spokesman on Mindanao and a Regional NPA Commander to boot issued a statement on September 28th, 2010 on the Port Call made by the US Navy's USS George Washington and three destroyers, in Manila. In a highly true to form piece, Madlos says that the Port Call is only the latest and most blatant in a string of recent US incursions into Philippine territory. He said, correctly, that US troops often masquerade as Humanitarian actors even though they overtly engage both the NPA (that is absolutely false) and the MILF (that is correct in so much as MILF's 114 Base Command on Basilan is inextricably linked to Abu Sayyaf and Abu Sayyaf is the US mandate in the Philippines, an issue I will be discussing in my next MILF entry since the US Ambassador just requalified that issue in a recent statement).
The US involvement against the NPA is relegated to Intel related Operations, primarily by the CIA which operates out of a set of three shipping containers at Camp Navarro in Zamboanga City. There are a couple of uniformed servicemen working with them, in UAV ("Drones," i.e.unmanned aerial craft used to surveil in this case in the pursuit of intel, as well as in SIGNINT, electronic intel). To "overtly engage" the US would have to enter into Combat Operations which it has not despite ridiculous propaganda from the NPA claiming that unifromed US soldiers were involved in a firefight in Visayas Region. the US has no Operational Presence north of mainland Mindanao. Its presence is heaviest on Basilan, but it also has a significant presence on Jolo Island, and maintains 3 man teams as far afield as Tawi Tawi's AFP Naval Station. I am meandering a bit off course and will relegate my posting in this area to these limited comments, and hope to get to it sooner rather than later.
Madlos went on to say, US efforts are directly cadged from its COIN (Counter Insurgency) manual and are part and parcel of America's "Containment and Engagement" policy. Only a very naive, or ignorant person would imagine that the americans hold no ulterior motives in their Philippine endeavour. The so called "South East Asian Front on the War on Terror" is a farce. Whatever tenuous links Middle Eastern Islamo-fascists may have had with Abu Sayyaf had dissipated at least 5 years before the first uniformed American deplaned at Edwin Andrews Airforce Base in Zamboanga City. Abu Sayyaf itself was totally and irrevocably devoid of any substantiative ideology by that time as well, and had been since before its founder was killed in 1998.
The continued US presence is absolutely tied to regional goals but they are not entirely, or even mostly economic in nature.Rather they are tied to hegemony, not allowing China to extend its reach (the Spratly Islands brouhaha excepted), nor allow Japan to gain the heads up as it becomes the third largest donor on humanitarian projects in Mindanao behind America and Australia. So much for the Madlos/NDF/CPP/NPA worldview which was stale even before Mao died.
September 3rd, 2010 saw yet another killing in the Datu Labawan saga,but this issue has quickly evolved from an NPA-centric dynamic to one deserving of its own long winded entry, one I hope to get to shortly. Most if not all civilian killings since August are attributable to the tribal feud ("Pangayaw").
On October 04, 2010, yet another chapter in the AFP versus NPA "Child Warrior" saga closed in Laak ,ComVal (Compostela Valley) Province. The AFP's 3rdSFB (Special Forces aka Airborne Battalion) under Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinand Napuli provided a Security Perimeter as a resident of Barangay Prosperidad in the town of Montevista in that same province sought AFP assistance in the search for his missing son. Maneja Andoyo, a local Lumad (Hill Tribe) man had last seen his son Bobong Andoyo when the young man left home after a short visit, on November 14th, 2009. Four days before his 17th birthday.
Bobong had been home on a short visit, having joined the NPA with his younger brother Rodrigo Andoyo in 2008, when Bobong had just turned 15, and Rodrigo had turned 14. Rodrigo couldnt stomach the lean diet, crude environment and most of all he says, the violence. Bobong stayed on, primarily being motivated by the monthly stipend promised to all NPA Regulars (full time guerillas), seeing it as perhaps the only avenue with which he could help alleviate some of the crushing poverty his family faced. Shortly after he returned to his detachment from that short visit at home, he and fellow recruit Reto "Ka Jeffrey" Mawang, also a teenager, decided to defect.
Leaving one evening when both had sentry duty the two youths took their chance, careful to bring their weapons with them to ensure their acceptance into the AFP's Surrenderee Program, aka Social Integration Program, which offers a generous bounty for each operable weapon surrendered as well as an immediate financial incentive and payouts for livlihood and re-training assistance. When it was apparent that the two had fled the hierarchy in the Front (comparable to an IB in the AFP though with far less personnel) ordered them roped in. It wasnt long before their former comrades caught up to them as they tried to navigate the deep bush in the early moning hours, according to a local farmer cum NPA Irregular (NPA Village Militia) who resides in Sitio Pundasyon, the sitio in Laak where the double grave was uncovered, and was able to witness their apprehension and execution from his home.
Assisted by the Nabunturan Scene of Crime Operations (SOCO),from Nabunturan Municipal Police Office, Maneja Andoyo and his son Rodrigo dug out Bobong's decomposed remains by hand, still wearing the black teeshirt usually worn by NPA Regulars, and the combat fatigues he had also been wearing the last day his father saw him. Having spent P50,000 raised by selling off virtually all his possesions, Maneja said that he was finally at peace and had found a measure of closure. Until this point he had been receiving dreams regularly in which his son cried out for succor. He had expected the discovery ever since he had first questioned locals in that same NPA detachment and the men had been extremely evasive.
October 7th, 2010 saw yet another AFP salvo against the NPA in the never-ending saga of the,"Child Warrior."The 84IB, having had a difficult transfer south from Luzon,and having been decimated in battle against the NPA is finally getting the hang of life down south with its recent Clearing Operation in Purok #8, Barangay Carmen,Baguio District in Davao City.Stumbling over a deserted encampment from NPA Front-54 they found some internal memos dated November 24, 2009 with a neatly composed list of new recruits from Davao AOR including full psycho-social profiles as well as Logistical info such as methods for procurement of medical supplies.It is the recruit list though that is making 10ID brass get all hot and bothered.On the list are 3 males under the age of 18,two of whom are drug users...as if no AFP soldier is but that is just how it is played.The camp was located well within the Klata band of Bagobo Lumad's AD (Ancestral Domain) Claim,despite a long history of opposition from that band's Datu (chief).Front-54's Kumander (CO) Alex"Ka Bobby"Rosete is slacking off apparently.
On Monday October 11th,2010 New Zealand ignorantly added the CPP and NPA along with 4 other organisations to its list of"International Terror Organisations"per its"Terrorism Suppression Act."Who were the NPA lumped together with? HAMAS' miltary wing,the Qassam Brigades and those fun loving bunch of Islamo-fascists, PIJ aka Palestinian Islamic Jihad.PM John Keys amazingly maintains that this move helps his nation meet its onus under UN Security Council Resolution #1373 which was passed to help neutralise the world wide specter of terrorism. How and why the NPA was ever lumped into THAT pile of nonsense defies logic and any kind of adult reasoning but of course the answer is that the Philippine Government,as it claims to be entering into Peace Talk mode with the NPA (via the NPA's umbrella organisation, the NDF, National Democratic Front) pressured hard to get it done...just as it did with the Netherlands when it revoked NPA founder and nominal leader (officialy "Consultant to the NDF") Jose Maria Sison aka JOMA's Residency Status and Social Welfare Benefits.Bravo for New Zealand,I am sure that its people can rest easier knowing that the NPA is now on that list (SARCASM).
October 19, 2010 in Sitio Tumondong,Barangay Basak,Magpet,North Cotabato Province on the Sumifru Banana Plantation roughly 50 NPA swamred the sitio in the early morning hours destroyed 8 Million Pesos (~150,000 US) worth of heavy equipment.Sumifru is owned by the Japanese corporation Sumitomo which farms about 4,000 hectares at locations throughout Southern Mindanao.Normally an action like this wouldnt even be worth mentioning as they are so common and do not involve human casualties but the incident marks a push into slightly new territory for the NPA, or rather a return to territory it hasnt held since the very early 1990s.More over,it created approximately 1200 new IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons aka REfugees) as terrified villagers fearing an escalation fled with the clothes on their backs. IDPs are almost always related to AFP actions taken against various groups within the Islamic Insurgency though every few months there is a moderate wave in Surigao del Sur and Agusan del Sur Province's Andap Complex.As of today,October 21st,the IDPs remain in Evacuation Centres,etc.
The next day, October 20,2010 saw a rare glimmer of hope in the GPH-NPA struggle,now close to its 42nd year of war and bloodshed.The NPA (and CPP) sublimate themselves within an umbrella organisation,the NDFP,or as it is commonly known,the NDF (National Democratic Front of the Philippines).The NDF encompasses a range of Left Wing Sectoral Front Organisations,many of which figure in the AFP's Order of Battle (fair game in war,though usually in the covert, u
Founder JOMA,Jose Maria Sosa,and many other top figures had ensconced themselves comfortably in Utrecht, Netherlands.While many,like Luis Jandaloni had intelligently taken dual Dutch citizenship JOMA had merely become a legal alien while he wound his way through the cumbersome process of claiming Political Asylum. The placement on these 2 Lists caused JOMA's status to be yanked and negated the possibility of travel outside the EU for Jandaloni, et al.The almost imemdiate result was the NDF unilaterally stepping away from the negotiating table.
As ex-President Arroyo's time drew near JOMA and the rest of the crew began putting out feelers to jump start the process.When Aquino took the Election this past May most observers knew that the resumption was a given, after a few very minor wrinkles have been ironed out. Much to President Aquino's credit he has picked 5 extremely able people for the GPH Panel, all of whom I will go into great detail about in m next entry.There is still no date in sight though it most definitely will take place in the first half of 2011.Seven long years of sadness and bloodshed. Unlike the GPH-MILF Peace Process the GPH-NDF Peace Process actually stands a chance of accomplishing soemthing with lasting impact.One can imagine anyway...
Wednesday, October 27, 2010, at 547AM in Purok Basakan,Barangay Alagon,Siay,Zamboanga Sibugay Province,the 53IB claimed to have found an NPA Camp outside the town in question though no NPA activity has been known to take place there over the last 36 months,let alone in the entire 1 ID AOR, and killed 2 men the TF says were armed NPA guerillas. It has to be mentioned that on Monday, October 25 in Barangay Pilay, Ipil, also in that province and well within the ID's AOR ( 1st Infantry Division's Area of Operations),a CAFGU soldier, Oilgario Bucal Jr.turned his army issued weapon on his comrades killing 5 in cold blood.The obvious questions are being floated on this issue. Bucal then escaped into the bush,do the math (maybe),especially when you find out that the 2 dead "guerillas" were 1 male and 1 female and only 1 weapon was recovered, an army issued carbine.
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