Lingig is a small, non-descript town on the eastern shores of Mindanao. Through an accident of geography the municipality sits at the nexus of three provincial borders: Davao Oriental, Agusan del Sur, and its own, Surigao del Sur. Sadly for the small town, such intersecting borders are textbook NPA targets. Both from an organisational AND an operational perspective such areas are almost irresistable to the Maoists. Organisationally, a detachment first encamps on or near such a nexus and in turn is then able to more rapidly expand, or at the very least offer the impression that it is doing so which is strategically valuable in and of its own right. Operationally, PNP, or Philippine National Police, are hemmed in by provincial lines in most cases. Certainly this is true at the municipal and provincial level and in the case of Lingig, where it also sits on a regional border, Caraga (Region 13) and Davao (Region 11), this also applies to PNP regional entities.
Likewise this usually holds true with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, or AFP. Caraga and Davao Regions each fall under different IDs, or Infantry Divisions. Caraga is operationally the provenance of the 4ID, while Davao, since 2008, is under the jurisdictional control of the 10ID. Not only do IDs not share intelligence, they don't share assets and/or manpower as well. The jist of this extremely important dynamic is that an NPA Front encamped in Davao Oriental can launch an attack 5 kilometers away from its encampment, across the border in Surigao del Sur Province, withdraw back into Davao Oriental and pretty much rest assured that the AFP and PNP will spend the next three or four days arguing over operational control and jurisdiction. The PNP doesn't even enter the equation because in terms of the insurgency, it takes a seat far in the rear, a far cry from its predecessor, the PC, or Philippine Constabulary whose bread and butter WAS insurgency.
So, Lingig is destined to be an NPA punching bag for the duration of what is now a 43 year old insurgency, or in its particular case, a 37 year insurgency since the NPA first arrived there in 1975. The August 6th, 2011 attack on Mayor Henry Dano's residential compound wasn't suprising in the least above and beyond the gross incompetence of his two security escorts, Corporal Alrey de Samparado and Private First Class Allan Saban. Both men are intelligence assets attached to the AFP's 75IB, the battalion with operational control over Lingig and its environs. Therefore the two should have been absolutely on top of their game. Instead, on the evening in question, Saban approached the compound's chainlink front gate to ascertain the nature of an unknown visitor presenting himself and asking to see Mayor Dano.
The man, dressed in a Tagalog Barong, the quinessential Filipino shirt popularised by the late Dictator Ferdinand Marcos and now the preferred attire of high ranking PNP and allied personnel. Indeed, the man at the gate informed Saban that he was a team leader with the NBI, or National Bureau of Investigation, the nation's top law enforcement entity sublimated not to the PNP but to the Department of Justice, or DOJ.
Standard Operating Procedure for law enforcement personnel dictates that the lead officer, upon entering a municipality in a new case or operation, first presents himself at the home of that municipality's mayor. A courtesy call if you will, that is extremely problematic on Mindanao given local officials' involvement in all matter of criminality if not actively involved in the insurgency/ies within their domain. Still, this practice is considered de riguer and so Private First Class Saban thought nothing out of the ordinary was taking place.
Of course the NPA has time and again used such ploys to infiltrate important buildings and compounds so that at the very least, since Corporal de Samparado outranked him, Saban should have first checked with his immediate superior, or better yet, informed Mayor Dano of the "visitor" and let him make a very simple phone call to verify the visitor's purported identity and/or role. No, instead Saban cheerfully greeted the visitor at the gate as he unlocked and opened it. Of course the "NBI Agent" was an NPA guerilla, albeit much better dressed than the usual dull green t-shirt and knee-high rubber boots that constitute the NPA "uniform" would allow.
Saban, Corporal de Samparado, and Mayor Dano himself were taken by the guerillas, from the NPA's Front 20, the Conrado Heredia Command of the Northeast Mindanao Regional Committee, or NEMRC, then spirited the three into oblivion. Because of the GPH-NDFP Peace Process and its impasse over the JASIG conundrum*, the captivity lasted three times longer than usual with the three only re-gaining their freedom on October 9th, 2011 (* GPH-NDFP are the acronyms utilised by the "Government of the Philippines" and the "National Democratic Front of the Philippines," the latter being a political umbrella representing the NPA and its political wing, the CPP, or Communist Party of the Philippines. "JASIG," or Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantees, is a Joint Agreement betwen the GPH and NDFP inked in 1998 in which the GPH guarantees that any and all NDFP "Consultants" directly attached to the Peace Process will remain free from arrest, prosecution, and physical harm. The reality though has been A LOT different and so we have the current impasse in the Peace Process, a stumbling block that first presented itself in May of 2011 over seventeen such "Consultants").
During this longer than normal captivity Mayor Dano, AND his two "security escorts," all gave the typically scripted video presentations in which they admitted being scum of the earth, et cetera and so forth. There is nothing astonishing in this, ALL political captives of the NPA are compelled to do this. Of course it then ruins the careers of the enlisted men and non-commissioned officers (NCOs) upon their return to the loving arms of the AFP but politicians fare much differently. So many Mindanowan mayors go through this unfortunate experience that noone gives it a second thought...except Mayor Dano's arch nemesis Roberto "Jimmy" Luna.
Mr.Luna, co-incidentally serving as Dano's Vice Mayor, has long been the bane of Dano's life. Luna was the Mayor himself until reaching the end of his third three year term in the May of 2010 Elections. He first came to power after murdering his primary competition in the 2001 Election, former Mayor Amerosin V.Onsing, in a Catholic Church no less.
As for how such enemies become tied to one another as mayor and vice mayor, in the Philippine Political System candidates for high office do have running mates BUT each candidate is balloted separately. In other words, one's running mate only enters office IF he or she receives enough individual votes. There is no dual ticket. In Lingig, Dano became Luna's Vice Mayor, and in May, 2010 that dynamic was simply inverted with each man switching office with the other.
Shortly after Dano's release Vice Mayor Luna began telling anyone who would listen that Dano was an NPA collaborator who had gone well beyond the Stockholm Syndrome*-like affectation and into true indoctrination (*Stockholm Syndrome is an actual psychological pathology in which the captive sympathises with and even tacitly supports their captor, names after a group of Swedish captives). In other words, Vice Mayor Luna was tarring Mayor Dano as an NPA cadre. This is of course ironic given Luna's own pedigree. As Mayor, Jimmy Luna was not only also abducted by the NPA, he was taken captive TWICE in less than thirty-six months! In his first capture, on February 6th, 2007, the NPA ALSO infiltrated HIS residential compound in Lingig's Barangay Mandus.
Then, the guerillas from the NPA's Front 20 forced Luna- though he didn't resist AT ALL- into his own SUV and forced him to drive around Lingig, closely followed by two comandeered passenger vans full of guerillas, as they had Luna show them the homes of each of the town's 15 police officers which they recorded for future use. Then, at 5PM they had Luna lead them into the poorly guarded municipal compund where they promptly divested the MPO of its scant arsenal, eleven M16s and six shotguns, before withdrawing with Luna as insurance against immediate armed reprecussions. After releasing their helpful captive that evening inthe town's Barangay Pagtila-an, they withdrew back into the jungle along that provincial border nexus.
Then, on May 5th, 2010, just five days before the 2010 Election in which Luna was running for Vice Mayor, he and his four security escorts were stopped at an NPA checkpoint in the municipality of Monkayo, in the nearby province of Compostela Valley, or ComVal as it is known locally. He and his escorts, two MPO police officers and two soldiers from the 58IB, were on Davao-Agusan National Hiway en route to Davao City to visit Luna's ill son in Davao Doctors Hospital. During election seasons the NPA charges a "tax" to all candidates, a "PTC," or "Permit to
Campaign," though in that last election it had been re-christened "PTW," or "Pay to Win," supposedly assuring the highest paying candidate an electoral victory. Vice Mayor Luna neglected to pay his. Although he ended up winning the Election as Vice Mayor, his family had to cough up P3 Million ($66,000) to the NPA to gain his and his four escorts eventual release days after that victory.
As for calling now-Mayor Henry Dano a "collaborator," during the first abduction, Luna's demeanour was so non-chalant inside the MPO that his own police force filed affadavits accusing their Mayor of being an NPA cadre. According to then PNP Director General Arturo "Art" Lomibao, Luna was "commanding" guerillas! More to the point, then-Mayor Luna actually cried after his second capture, as he described the warmth he felt from the guys and gals of that very same NPA element, Front 20! Instead of flipping the script and pointing all this out, Mayor Dano drew into himself and only left his compound under heavy guard. Refusing to press charges against the NPA, Dano was again accused of harbouring a secret relationship with the Maoists. Instead of reminding folks that Luna hadn't charged the NPA either, in either of his two captivities, Dano simply noted, "I will just forget about it," admitting though that his "heart is still pounding in fear." When pressed on his reluctance to file charges Dano asked, "If I filed a case, will you protect me? Will you be able to give me justice and will you be able to give me security?"
One needs to understand that like a fair number of municipalities in Eastern Mindanao, Lingig is under a parallel government implemented by the NPA. AFP and PNP officials always downplay this by sticking to a story that has the NPA devoid of any strategy above and beyond reaping a profit through its "Revolutionary Taxes" which according to this narrative, merely serve to enrich high ranking NPA and CPP personalities. Because Lingig is a poor municipality devoid of any lucrative logging and mining tenements the NPA only uses the town as a sort of "way station" as it moves to and fro to richer municipalities. Of course this is propaganda aimed at the naïve amd gullible. In the words of Lingig's Municipal Police Office Director, Inspector Ignacio Serrano, "(We are) so undermanned and (under) armed. The rebels roam here freely. They even play basketball during festivities but we cannot go after them." In the meantime he has had a tall razorwire topped chainlink fence constructed around the already walled municipal compound, and is considering sandbagging around that perimeter fence AND THEN building a second razorwire topped chainlink fence. Perhaps redundancy will protect his MPO and the town hall, nothing else has.
Showing posts with label Lingig. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lingig. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
NPA Armed Contacts, Third Quarter of 2011, Part II: NPA Captures Mayor Dano of Lingig
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.
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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