On Saturday, August 6th, 2011 GPH, or Government of the Philippines, Peace Panel Chairperson Alexander "Alex" Padilla was whiling away the hours beating his head against the wall- I mean TALKING - with a Panelist from the NDFP, or National Democratic Front of the Philippines, Fidel Agcaoili. Their meeting of course focused on the now stalled GPH-NDFP Peace Process. The NDFP, which serves as the above board proxy for the CPP/NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines/New Peoples Army), took great issue with the Government's spectacular failure to keep its word and release incarcerated "Consultants" to the NDFP Peace Panel. Ironically, as this tense meeting was taking place in Metro Manila's Makati City, and both sides tried beyond all reasonable hope to salvage what had been the best opportunity either side has seen in more than 6 years, a "meeting" of a different sort was taking place between members of the NDFP and GPH almost 1,000 kilometers to the south, on Mindanao. The NPA's Front 20 (Conrado Heredia Front, Southern Mindanao Regional Committee, or SMRC) was launching a tactical strike against an elected official, but first, in Shandesque fashion let me colour in a bit of the background.
The municipality of Lingig, in the province of Surigao del Sur on the island's eastcoast is, like many Mindanowan population centres, non-descript and low key at first appearance. As the adage tells us though, appearances can often be deceiving. Founded in 1921 when the residents of an outlying barrio in the town of Hinatuan chafed at having to walk 14 kilometers down a muddy jungle trail to take care of even the simplest of personal business affairs. During Monsoon the trail was usually impassable and so two of the barrio's leading families were able to convince (of course I mean "pay") Congressman Tiongco to sponsor a Bill seeking the barrio's conversion into a full fledged municipality. On March 21st, 1921 Lingig officialy entered existence but as these things go, only the families that had sponsored its creation realised any sort of tangible benefits.
So it was that virtually all the townspeople existed much as they always had, struggling to produce abaca in upland farmsteads, while on the coast most fished or farmed rice. For them Manila might as well be another planet. Aside from the Japanese Occupation life stayed as it had always been...until 1986 and EDSA I. EDSA I, or the "Peoples Power Revolution" forced Philippine dictator Fidel Marcos into exile and ushered in an era of naïve hopefulness and anticipation. The first post-Marcos Presidency, that of the late Corazon "Cory" Aquino, who rode her husband's assasination into office, was a tad bit less thab stellar (put very lightly). Like the nation she was charged to run, Ms.Aquino was unsophisticated and out of her league but what she lacked in geo-political acumen and diplomatic finesse she certainly compensated for with her unabashed exuberance and optimism over the many opportunities at hand.
Indicative of both President Aquino's optimism AS WELL AS her naivete was her radical scheme to wipe the board clean at the municipal level and appoint OICs, or Officers in Charge in place of town and city mayors. On the surface it may appear to be astute, or even necesary, whereas in reality she was discarding local government executives, many with two decades of administrative experience in their particular corner of the world, and in their stead unilaterally installing inexperienced pople whose only real qualification, for the most part, was a recorded aversion to Marcos and his policies. The old "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" might pass muster in a game of Stratego but when implemented in real life simply produced inept administration, more often than not with disasterous results.
In Lingig the man chosen to run the town was the son of a former mayor who himself had served just one term immediately after the Japanese Occupation. Though not particularly known for any opposition to the Marcos regime, the son's converse lack of support for that regime was almost as good. So it was that Amerosin V.Onsing became the OIC Mayor of Linsing in 1986. Aside from the confidence of Manila OIC Mayor Onsing also managed to gain the mandate of his constituency when the townspeople followed up President Aquino's decision and voted him in as the municipality's first truly elected mayor. In 1998, having reached his term limit of three terms (12 years), Mayor Onsing did as so many Philippine politicians do and made a pact with his Vice Mayor, William B.Lim. Lim would run for Mayor and Onsing would run for Vice Mayor with the understanding that come 2001, Lim would re-assume his current role as Vice Mayor under Onsing.
Although most Philippine politicians honour such self-serving pacts there are isolated cases where, having now tasted life at the top of the local pyramid, heretofore lesser politicians have refused to play nice and return to their previous, lesser office. Mayor Lim was one such exception. Complicating matters, a powerful local "businessman," Roberto "Jimmy" Luna Jr. entered the fray by submitting his COC, or Certificate of Candidacy for that 2001 Election.
An ambitious, self-made man, Jimmy Luna believed then, as indeed he does now, that success is a combination of preparedness AND opportunity, but by the same token there is nothing wrong with creating one's own opportunity. His eye on the mayoralty, Mr.Luna recognised that of the two other contenders, Onsing was by far the most pressing threat. The Mayor cum Vice Mayor had spent the previous 15 years building a formidable political machine. Dislodging it would be next to impossible. To work his way around this seemingly insurmountable hurdle Jimmy Luna took the path of most expediency. One Sunday morning, as most of Lingig's leading citizens were at the town's Catholic Church, having just finshed with Mass, a skimasked man entered the Church, approached Vice Mayor Onsing and blew off the back of his skull with a 45 caliber pistol.
Though several local residents, speaking off the record to investigators admitted having seen the fleeing killer enter Luna's residential compound shortly after the murder, the Lingig MPO, or Municipal Police Office was stymied by the lack of witnesses willing to testify to that fact via affadavit. In truth, although Vice Mayor Onsing had enough friends on the town's police force, experienced police officers tend to try and remain aloof with regard to local political violence. Unfortunately Standard Operating Procedure at the DILG, or Department of the Interior and Local Government, the entity under which all MPOs and municipal governments BOTH work serve, imbues local government executives with the power to make or break MPO deployments. In simpler terms, a police officer over-exerting himself while investigating the assassination of a mayor or vice mayor will often find himself out of a job as soon as the deceased official's successor assumes office.
With that spectacular public murder Jimmy Luna soon found himself running unopposed for Mayor as Mayor Lim withdrew his own incumbent candidacy. Almost from the day he assumed office Mayor Roberto "Jimmy" Luna Jr. concentrated on enriching himself and his family. Of course this is what most Filipino politicians do but Mayor Luna did so with a certain elan. In trying to quickly amass as much land as possible at the most advantageous price Luna very quickly made enemies. In addition, both Onsing and Lim still had more than a few supporters, especially in the ranks of the Linsing CVO, or Civilian Volunteer Organisation. The CVO is the PNP, or Philippine National Police equivalent to the military's CAA, or Civilian Active Auxiliary programme. The CAA, via the CAFGU (Civilian Auxiliary Force Geographical Unit) and lesser known entities collectively serve as the cornerstone of the military's COIN, or Counterinsurgency programme. Limited to operations within a given geographical sector in which all enlisted men reside, they work under a cadre infantry battalion in parallel with other military elements. Whereas the CAA programmes are under the military and therefore the Department of National Defense, or DND, the CVO are under the PNP, which, as stated earlier, serves under the DILG (I know, I know, acronyms ad naseum but Filipinos have a strange penchant for them). The DILG of course, as I have already explained, is the Department of the Interior and the Local Government.
Before too long the supporters of Onsing and Lim coallesced into a distinct and troublesome faction within the town's CVO. Within this faction the leading personalities were a pair of brothers from the towns Barangay Union. Alejandro "Alejandrito" L.Suazo, aged 45 and Romulo "Romulito" L. Suazo age 48 began agitating for revenge. Not one to cut corners, Mayor Luna swiftly responded. On March 2003 the Suazo brothers, along with two other CVO members were deployed to Sitio B within Barangay Union to respond to "concerned citizens' " reports concerning an unknown band of armed men. Rushing to the scene the four CVO members were mowed down by M16 fire immediately and left to bleed out.
With the murder of the Suazo Brothers the organised opposition to Mayor Luna dissipated rapidly. Emboldened Luna increased his depradations as he sought to accumulate more and more land. Like any Mindanowan politician worth his (or her) weight Luna soon co-opted the town CVO and began utilising it as his personal paramilitary. Though no longer a political neophyte his momentum was admirable nonetheless...until he hit a large speedbump.
On February 3rd, 2006 Mayor Luna set off to visit a friend in Lingig's Barangay Pagtila'an. Upon entering that barangay though he ran into a checkpoint. As he opened his window to admonish the "soldiers" manning that checkpoint he had two M16 barrels shoved in his face. As one guerilla got into the front seat of Luna's Ford Expedition three others packed the rear seat, their barrels trained on him...or so the story goes according to Luna. Ordered to return to his home in the town's Barangay Mandus. Driving off the checkpoint quickly shut down with most of the guerillas who had manned in getting into three cargo vans. One van proceeded to Mayor Luna's home while the other two took up Blocking Positions for Phase II of the operation.
Luna drove with his four "passengers" into his residential compound and was brusquely ordered into his house and to produce three M203 grenade launchers and one M16, the NPA already knowing his personal stash. Quickly returning to the Expedition just as the van full of guerillas reached the compound the two vehicles travelled together to Lingig's municipal compound. Seeing the Mayor who appeared to be nonplussed the police officer on duty as sentry saw nothing out of the ordinary in that Mayor Luna was often seen sheparding AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines members in and about the municipal compound. Likewise the additional police officer performing sentry duty at the entrance to the Lingig MPO. Upon entering the 24 man MPO garrison a guerilla ordered all personnel on duty to lay face down, remain absolutely quiet, and to obey all directives without exception. Announcing that all personnel should remain still he ordered subordinate guerillas to frisk all personnel. Without firing a single shot the NPA captured an additional ten M16s, a 38 caliber revolver, and three 45 caliber pistols.
Rushing out the way that they had come and taking Mayor Luna with them for insurance as a Human Shield they rendevouzed with the two additional vans and all four vehicles took different routes into the municipality of Boston across the provincial line in Davao Oriental Province. On February 6th a group of guerillas drove Mayor Luna into Lingig in his own Ford Expedition. There they released him but drove off in his SUV to ensure their own escape. Luna had been held by the NPA's Front 20 (Conrado Heredia Front, SMRC) for three days but had managed to survive none the worse for the wear. Director of the PNP, General Arturo Lombiao went ballistic. Not only did he can the Chief of the Lingig MPO, Inspector Evelyn Frugalidad but sacked the Director of the Police Provincial Office, or PPO, Admirante Josue. He then relieved the entire 24 man garrison and re-deployed them to Camp Crame for thorough re-training. Still not placated Lombiao publicly accused Mayor Luna of conspiring with the NPA. In fact, he stated in a speech given less than a week after the incident that while inside the Lingig MPO, as the NPA was divesting the garrison of its arsenal, Luna had been the one directing the guerillas! Interestingly Luna never responded to the remarks, this in a nation where people sue for libel when accused by journalists of poor performance. Quite telling indeed.
Though the 2007 Election was uneventful, after the unforgettable experience of 2006, Luna was now in his third and final mayoral term and like the predecessor he murdered, Mayor Luna arranged to switch places with his Vice Mayor, Henry Santos Dano in the 2010 Election.
As the 2010 Election drew very close the Luna Family endured a minor crisis as Mayor Luna's son took deathly ill and was rushed to Davao City where physicians were able to stave off the boy's fever. Still, he remained in Davao Doctors Hospital for his recuperation. At 330AM on May 2010 Mayor Luna and his bodyguards left Lingig in two vehicles, a Nissan Navarra and a Toyota Hi-Lux en route to Davao City to visit his son. Leaving Agusan del Sur Province and entering Barangay Pasian in the municipality of Monkayo, in Compostela Valley (Comval) Province the two trucks ran into yet another one of the many checkpoints up and down Davao-Agusan National Hiway. By the time the trucks inched up to the point of inspection the well armed men conducting vehicular checks drew down their M16s and began barking orders. By this time Mayor Luna must have had no illusions, he was once again being "captured" by the NPA, the very same element none the less, Front 20. Disarming the Mayor's security detail the NPA captured five M16s, two 45 caliber pistols, one 380 caliber pistol, and one 38 revolver.
The guerillas ordered Luna out of the vehicle alone with 4 members of his security detail:
1) Pfc. (Private First Class) Johnrey Abao, 58IB (Infantry Battalion)
2) Pfc. Arnel Dizon, 58IB.
3) PO2 (Police Officer Second Grade) Boy de Castro, Lingig MPO
4) PO3 Alan Dapitanon, Lingig MPO
The NPA claimed that the had captured Mayor Luna for a variety of offences "against the people." They rightly accused him or murdering Vice Mayor Onsing in 2001 though they referred to him as "Mayor Onsing" and claimed that ge had preceeded Luna as mayor. They also mentioned the murder of the Suazo brothers BUT erroneously gave the year of that incident as 2007 instead of the correct 2003. The Philippine Media, as inept as it nearly always is, simply re-gurgitated whatever spiel the NPA force fed it. The media erroneously seized upon 2007 as the year the NPA had used Luna to raid the Lingig MPO. Of course as I just noted that incident took place in 2006. Moreover, many media outlets are claiming that the NPA captured Luna twice in 2007, making the 2010 incident his third capture. He was never captured in 2007 and 2010 is the second and last incident.
On May 17th, 2010 all 5 men were released in the jungle where Lingig borders Davao Oriental and Agusan del Sur Provinces. Luna's family, on his instructions, had paid the NPA 3 million Pesos (60,000 US roughly speaking) to make "restitution to the people." Though the ordeal cost Luna a pretty penny, and couldn't have come at a worse time with his youngest son hospitalised, all was not dismal as he had in fact emerged victorious in his bid to gain the Vice Mayoralty and have his heretofore Vice Mayor Henry Santos Dano take the Mayoral seat.
Fast forward to August 6th, 2011 and the meeting taking place that day in Makati between GPH Peace Panel Chairperson Alex Padilla and NDFP Peace Panelist Fidel Agcaoili...
That morning, just after daybreak, a man in the typical Barong Tagalog, a semi-dress shirt utilised by most National Bureau of Investigation officers, appeared at the gate of Mayor Dano's residential compound. Speaking with one of the Mayor's AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines bodyguards he introduced himself as an NBI agent paying the requisite courtesy call on the municipality's executive(s) before launching an operation in Lingig. As courtesy dictates the AFP "bodyguard" opened the compound gate to allow the agent in. At this point the gate was rushed by dozens of NPA guerillas who quickly disarmed all present before taking Mayor Dano and two of his AFP bodyguards:
1) Corporal Alrey Villasis de Samparado, 75IB, an S2 (Intelligence Rated)
2) Pfc. Roland Saban, 75IB, S2
I need to note that as usual the media has dropped the ball and recorded the second subject's name incorrectly as "Pfc. Alan Pelino."
The guerillas, from Front 20, captured two M16s and two 45 pistols before herding all three men quickly out of the compound and into one of two idling vans, a green Hyundai Starex and a blue Toyota Hi-Lux. Each van took a different route but both were seen crossing out of Lingig and into the municipality of Boston across the provincial line in Davao Oriental.
75IB immediately set out in hot pursuit. Using one AFP SUV and two civilian pick up trucks entered Sitio Mahayahay in Lingig's Barangay Pabacatan they were ambushed by an NPA Blocking Force. The initial IED, or Improvised Explosive Device (as in "bomb") detonation killed one soldier:
1) Private (Pvt.) Wenceslao K.Pena, 75IB
and wounded 5 more and 1 CAA. By the time the 6 wounded men arrived at the hospital another soldier had died:
1) Pvt.Reymund H.Valencia, 75IB
Despite the great danger posed by the AFP's famously inept "rescue operations" the military has continued thrashing to and fro, running full speed through the jungles of Caraga and Davao Regions. In Thursday, August 11th the 67IB, operating in the municipality of Cateel in Davao Oriental Province walked unawares into a fully manned NPA camp in Barangay Abejod. After an intense 1 hour firefight that critically wounded 4 AFP soldiers and merely wounding a single guerilla, the NPA withdrew leaving the AFP to savour its spoils. Though they did manage to capture the wounded guerilla, a female medic named Lyka Navarro, they did gain a very rare success with a huge cache in terms of NPA weaponry, all of which is usually gained one weapon at a time. Five M16s, two M653s (a bull pup M16, or Baby Armalite in AFP slang), two M14s, five M4s, one M203 grenade launcher, and three Kenwood walkie talkies.
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