Of course the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines, wasn't going to sit on its inept hands after the NPA had 300 guerillas waltz into the "Pacified" province of Surigao del Norte and blow up two ships, one hundred and fourty-odd dump trucks, a couple of dozen pieces of heavy equipment, assorted barges and tugboats, blow up a mining process facility under construction, hold dozens of potential Japanese investors at gunpoint, kill five security guards, take scores of employees hostage, ambush a police convoy...did I forget anything else? Conservatively estimated at P5 Billion worth of damage just in equipment and trucks, the attack was one giant slap in the face to the AFP and its puppet, President Aquino.
Of course heads rolled but amazingly not that many. For example, with the PNP, or Philippine National Police, PNP Head Honcho, Director General Nicanor "Nick" Bartoleme removed the MPO (Municipal Police Office) Director, Senior Inspector Diomedes Cuadra, the Commanding Officer of PRO-13's, or Police Regional Office for Region 13's Public Safety Battalion (RPSB, the new moniker given to the Regional Police Mobile Group), Superintendent Rudy Cuyop and the Commanding Officer of PPO, or Police Provincial Office of Surigao del Norte Province, Senior Superintendent Emmanuel "Manny" Talento. However did not remove anyone else such as PRO-13's Director, who commands not only Cuyop and Cuadra but Talento as well! Glad to see that cronyism is alive and well but don't worry, I won't tell anyone.
Even more interestingly, within the AFP they sacked the Brigade Commander, Colonel Rodrigo Diapana and his EXO (Executive Officer, Second in Command), Colonel Cresente Q. Maligmat who concurrently commanded Task Force Stinger. Yet, the Division Commander nor any Battalion Commanders felt the heat. More to the point, no intelligence officers had their posteriors handed to them, so typical, so sad. If you are going to exercise the perogative of Command Responsibility, the protocol in Military Law that holds a commander responsible for all problems under his or her command, you must exercise that perogative universally. If you don't you merely reveal yourself for the toady fraud you are. Moreover, what about ACTUAL negligence above and beyond the principle of Command Responsibility? Declares Surigao del Norte Province "Pacified" on April 18th, 2010, a move I pointed out was far too premature and predicted would come back to haunt the previous division commander in manifest ways, yet he stays in play while you hang line officers out to dry? You ruin two Colonels' careers over a theoretical principle while ignoring ACTUAL malfeasance and culpability? AFP Chief of Staff Eduardo Oban is a sick joke. How is this for irony? On April 18th, 2010 then-commander of the 4ID (Infantry Division), Major General Mario Chan made his "Pacification" declaration at the headquarters of the 30IB (Infantry Battalion). That headquarters is in the municipality of...CLAVER.
OK, with my daily tirade out of the way...
On October 6th, 2011, at 11AM the municipality of Esperanza's Barangay Calabuan, in Agusan del Sur Province the AFP's 5th Scout Ranger Company, operating with the 58IB on backup infiltrated a small NPA camp in Sitio Simontana as its guerillas were pre-occupied with lunch. The camp belonging to Front 8 of the NEMRC, or Northeast Mindanao Regional Committee within which Front 4A of the NCMRC, or Northcentral Mindanao Regional Committe was holed up during its retreat from Claver and that huge attack on October 3rd.
Five NPA guerillas were killed, including the Secretary (the leader) of Front 4A, Ricardo Manili who is much better known by his nom de guerre, Ka Joker. Manili is also the former Secretary of the NCMRC's Operational Command, meaning he was a former commander of all military operations within the NCMRC and therefore an extremely high value target. Had the AFP instead captured him he would have been an extremely valuable font of intelligence. Of course the AFP is a military that kills kidnap victims and claims it rescued them so what are we to expect? When kidnap victims fear discovery by the AFP more than they do remaining in captivity something is terribly wrong.
In addition to kiling 5 guerillas the AFP lost a soldier who was killed in action and also managed to capture 12 assault rifles, consisting of four rare AK47s, four M14s, three M16s, and one Ultimax machine gun, a huge haul in terms of the AFP versus NPA dynamic EXCEPT that the NPA captures more than a hundred in Claver. Hey! I DID forget something, see?
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