NPA Armed Contacts for the Second Quarter of 2012, Part I: The Resurrection of Front 4A

The NPA's Front 4A, Cesar Cayon Command, was for the last couple of years on a steady downward trajectory. Sublimated to one of Mindanao's weakest Regional Committees, the NCMRC, or Northcentral Mindanao Regional Committee, that clear decline represented a solid military victory...at least that is what the Philippine Government would have people believe. With the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP in shorthand) handing over command and control of COIN (Counterinsurgency) Operations to Provincial Governments in two Region 10 provinces- Camiguin amd Misamis Oriental- smack dab in the middle of the NCMRC AOR (as in "Area of Responsibility"), the Government propaganda was almost believable.

Then, beginning in July of 2011, the AFP's 4ID (Infantry Division) began making precision slices on Front 4A as it began to actual dissect that vulnerable Front, limb by limb. On July 6th the 58IB (Infantry Battalion) began scouring the municipality of Buenavista's Barangay Sangay, sector by sector, as it was hard on the scent of a rumored complex that was then serving as Front 4A's main camp in Agusan del Norte. Upon reaching Sitio Lower Malanay the AGP hit th motherlode; Two inter-connected camps capable of comfortably housing 250 guerillas was discovered sitting well concealed in a stretch of malarial swampland. A short but uneventful firefight led to the capture of the complex. As is so often the case however, there wasnt a guerilla within kilometers of the umuch lauded "base camp."

Then came October 6th, and with it a spectacular NPA assault on yet another province that had been handed to a provincial government by a highly self-aggrandised 4ID. The province of Surigao del Norte's municipality of Claver, home to significant foreign mining interests. Anywhere one finds foreign owned business interests carting off Mindanao's hardscrabble patrimony, "Revolutionary Taxes" and the self-serving hypoctotical pansies in the NPA who collect them are never far behind. Companies are almost always given a six month window between the tendering of unsucessful demands and the implementation of a violent "example." In this case the victim of this corporate strong arming was a Japanese multinational mining outfit, the Sumitomo Corporation.

The Claver operation was monumental from both a publicity AND a financial point of view. Given the well over a Billion Peso price tag and the media's having seized upon the NPA having temporarily abducted a large group of prospective Japanese investors, it did not take any real skill to predict that the AFP would relentlessly pursue the NPA elements involved. Never mind that it was undertaken by three other NPA Fronts- 20, 21 and 30), but it was not even witht n the NCMRC. The attack was a product of the NEMRC, or Northeast Mindana Regional Committee). Yet it was Front 4A that bore the brunt of the withering assault by both the Philippine National Police, or PNP, and an extraordinarily massive air and land assault by the AFP slash PAF, the last acronym of course being the Philippine Air Force. Pushed out of the NCMRC's AOR, Front 4A, operating in true NPA textbook fashion, hugged provincial border nexuses, to allow great ease in moving to and from, and in between provincial border convergances. While the PNP does have enteties- such as its PROs, aka Police Regional Offices, and DIPOs- or Directorates of Integrated Police Operations, the AFP is hemmed in by gradations in AOR, at best it operates within a system of concentric circles that are all adversely effected by he man/macho man infighting and turf wars that effect most any male.dominated entity. The net result og course, since the PNP,merely operates at the pleasure of the AFP vis a vis avOIN Operations, is that the NPA exploites these territorial flaws on governance.

As the post-Claver sweeps and scourings continued,
Front 4A's Secretary, or leader, a veteran of the Mindanao bush wars, Ricardo Malanili, usually known by his nom de guerre "Ka Joker," pulled his force into the AOR of the much stronger NEMRC, the Regional Commitee that covers all of Caraga and a pinch of the Davao Region. NEMRC assisted the Front on re-positioning itself in the municipality pf Esperaunza, in Agusan del Sur Province

It was in Esperanza's Barangay Calabuan, an NPA baliwick in the hills above Agusan Marsh, that Ka Joker began to feel safe. Perhaps it was this false sense of security that allowed the AFP to come calling on October 6th, 2011 without much resostance. In just a few moments, Ka Joker and four of his guerillas were dead and the rest of Front 4A, hustling through rough hewn jungle trails to pre-arranged rendevoux points, and later still met up with Fronts operating in less volatile sectors. An easy way to conceptualise the NPA modus operandi is to envision both a tactical AND a tactical shell game im which the path of least resistance is always the right path.

Though the NPA tried engaging in a bit of amateurish PSYOPs (Psychological Propaganda Operations), denying that Ka Joker had in fact never been killed and that the AFP had merely.stumbled upon an old abandoned camp previously used by Ka Joker and his Front 4A, the truth was soon undeniable as the man's grieving family members rook tgeir pain to the media, acknowledging far and wide that at least on this one occaison, the AFP and the Government it serves were telling the truth, Ricardo "Ka Joker" Malanili was gone.

As for where that fact left Front 4A, dormant best describes it. That is, until Monday, April 23rd, 2012. At 845PM two passenger vans turned into Butuan City's Arjuville Subdivision in Barangay Libretad, near the border of Barangay Bancasi.Pulling into a small row of office suites eight men jumped out of each idling van and walked purposefully towards one of five adjoining doors that serves as the main entrance of Earth Savers Security Agency. Earth Savers, a liscenced security company actually serves as a paramilitary for hire, specialising in the "security" of mining outfits throught the Caraga Region (Region 13). Owned and operated by Nelson Ponsones Nario, a recently retired PNP (Philippine National Police) Chief Superintendent.

Chief Superindendent Nario parlezed a working relationahip with embattled former President Gloria M.Arroyo into a jump into the big leagues. From serving as the Director of the Isabela PPO, or Police Provincial Office, he won a promotion in 2009 to serve as the Chief Superintendent of PRO10 (Police Regional Office 10, Cagayan del Oro City), where he served as Director of Administration. In 2010 he was laterally transferred to PRO13 in Butuan City and it was there, at the mandatory age of retirement, he cashiered out and used his many contacts to arm and build his private paramilitary.

As the sixteen men from the vans approached the entrance to Earth Savers, four other men who had stayed behind with the vans discreetly implemented a security perimeter in the parkinglot. The idling vans the slowly moved forwatd towards that same main entrance as the sixteen men, toting assault rifles but dressed in street clothes entered the agency premises. Upon infiltrating the men found four employees on duty, doing little more than goofing off. Training rifles on the four agency employees one among the sixteen men announced that they were NBI, as in National Bureau of Investigation agents, intent upon serving a search warrant for illegal weapons trafficking. Within ten minutes, without a single shot being fired, the NBI imposters had carted off sixty-six weapons, a stunning haul by any measure.

Upon getting a signal, one of the two vans carefully backed up to the door. Flinging open the vehicle's two rear doors, the guerillas cum agents began carting away all weapons found on the premises and loaded them into the van. The total take was: 46 AK47s, 10 semi-automatic shotguns, 3 308. SWSs (bolt action sniper rifles with day and night scopes)- I need to add that these three pieces were erroneously reported as M14 in sniper configuration. Ironically, yhe Pilippines is one of several nations where sniping, if one can even call it thus, takes place with semi-automatic assault rifles, in this case, M16s. To be specific, such rifles are more Designated Marksman, or at best, Squad Sniper configurations. The three pieces captured however were in fact 308. bolt action, actual sniper rifles.

Usually, AKs are less than desirable pieces for the NPA. Ironically the rifle figures prominently in NPA propaganda, even being pictured on its flag. However, the NPA gains virtually all its ammunition from war booty taken during attacks on the PNP, AFP, and allied forces. Since the Philippines is firmly in the pocket of the US, it only utilises American style weaponry, with the M16 being the central to PNP and AFP operations. The M16 is chambered in 5.56MM. The AK47 on the other hand, is in 7.65MM. It is difficult at best, to secure a steady source of AK ammunition. For the time being though, the NPA is sitting pretty. Among other things captured during that assault, the guerillas brought home 147 fully loaded AK magazines (clips). Also taken were 67 ammunition vests, for 7.65MM, shotgun shells, and other assorted ammunition. Cellphones, ICOM radios amd.cash totalling almost P15,000 ($310).


Loading the last of their take into the one van, four guerillas clambered into it as well, as the twelve others, and four on perimeter all climbed into the second van before both exited the parkinglot and casually drove away into Barangay Bonbon. It was there in Bonbon, at just after 10PM that evening, that responding PNP vehicles discovered both vans, abandoned and empty.

If Earth Savers Security Agency sounds familiar it is because I have discussed them before. On November 1st, 2011, the NPA's Front 20, the Conrado Heredia Command of the SMRC, or Southern Mindanao Regional Committee, launchrd one of its,periodic assaults against the Datu Bulawanon Mining Exploration Corporation in the municipality of Rosario, in Agusan del Sur Province. As the guerillas moved in on foot, crossing into Barangay Bayugan #3's Purok #2, they first neutralised an Earth Savers outpost a kilometer up the rode from the aforementioned mining operation. Three "guards" were critically wounded as they engaged the advancing guerillas.

Finally, when considering this latest Butuan City armed contact, remember that Barangay Bancasi housea both PRO13 AMD tge AFP's 4ID sattelite headquarters, Camp Rafael Rodriguez. The attack was anything if not audacious

NPA Armed Contacts for the Fourth Quarter of 2011, Part XI: Mayor Henry Dano of Lingig in the Grips of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder After October Release

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.

NPA Armed Contacts for the Fourth Quarter of 2011, Part VI: Andap Complex Still Popping Off

Mindanao's Andap Valley sits at the southern end of the Caraga Region, also known as Region 13. Bounded by the peaks of the Diwata Mountains on the Surigao del Sur and Agusan del Sur provincial borders, this remotest corner of Mindanao has long served as the NPA's Center of Gravity on the island, its "heartland" if you will. Under the experienced leadership of Jorge Madlos, now the NDFP Spokesperson for Mindanao, it has remained unaffected by countless operations by the AFP, the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Since the mid-1980s when the so called "Barefoot Priest" Father Frank Navarro walked into the Andap wilderness and raised an M16, the region has been firmly enmeshed in the Governments COIN, or counterinsurgency programme.

Madlos, better known by his nom de guerre Ka Oris (Comrade Oris), is now a senior citizen who literally wears a diaper due to the catheter threaded through his genitals because of a serious kidney disorder. Still, he shows bo sign of weakening and in fact serves as a symbol of NPA perserverence in the face of daunting opposition. The now 43 year old insurgency, often incorrectly labeled "Asia's longest running insurgency," is still seducing scores of the region's young people into going to heel in the area's thick jungles to risk life and limb in defence of an ideology practically none of them even understand. When you have starving, uneducated youth being promised P15,000 ($330) per month, an upper class salary, it is a given that there will be many takers. Virtually all NPA recruits in the NPA's NEMRC, or, Northeast Mindanao Regional Committee- the Regional Command covering virtually all of Andap- are members of Lumad Tribes, Hilltribesmen who sit on the lowest rung of Mindanao's socio-economic ladder.

A basic axiom in COIN doctrine holds that, "Insurgencies begin where good roads end." That line of thinking, mostly true, holds that a lack of economic development- dependent upon infrastructural outlay- is what pushes people into taking up weapons against their government. Indeed, most Lumad have never seen a single Governmental representative OR representation apart from the AFP and/or the PNP, or, Philippine National Police, and then only when they are being maltrated as suspected subversives- or else simply because they are Lumad and therefore viewed as "primitive" or "backwards."

The leadership, the cadres tasked with going into an un-touched settlement and drawing it into the NPA's influence overwhelmingly tend to be young middle to upper middle class intellectuals indoctrinated by multi-sectoral front organisations while at university. This holds true for the entire nation, not only for the NEMRC here on Mindanao. They, unlike the rank and file cannon fodder, operate out of a naïve and misplaced idealism. As another adage tells us, "A man who hasn't become a Socialist by age 20 has no heart. A man who is still a Socialist by age 40 has no brain." Often mis-attributed to England's Winston Churchill, it actually arose with Francois Guizot of France before Socialism even developed. He had used "Republican" where "Socialist" is now used. Yet, that maxim seems to apply to so many people who become enamoured with Leftist ideologies.

Surely anyone with an iota of compassion would be deeply moved seeing the stomach churning poverty pervading so much of Mindanao. Mindanao is the poorest region in an incredibly poor nation, so much so that people here often eat roadkill, IF they eat at all on a given day. With an inattentive and highly corrupt Government many see the NPA as the only ticket out of such hellishness. Unfortunately, the NPA is just as corrupt and just as perverse.

With that happy intro let us see what those idealistic 15,000 Pesos a month cadres and guerillas are up to...

On Tuesday, October 18th, 2011, Ka Mitchie of Front 19A led fifteen of her guerillas in an attack on a post belonging to the 29IB (Infantry Battalion). The post, in the municipality of Marihatag's Barangay Mahaba, in Surigao del Sur Province, defended itself well and managed to repel the onslaught without incurring a single casualty. Typically, the NPA attacks such soft targets in hopes of divesting them of their weaponry. It isn't about territory nor casualty counts for the Maoists, simply about acquiring the tools to create violence. This is why the insurgency has lasted so long but also why it has never progressed. Typically, if an attack hasn't proved successful within the first fifteen minutes the NPA withdraws in small groups going in different directions, separately making their way to a pre-co-ordinated rendevouz point. Ammunition is precious but moreover, anything over fifteen minutes exposes them to Government re-inforcements and exponentially increases their chances of being overrun themselves by counter-attacking soldiers from their original target.

That same day, October 18th, in the SMRC, or Southern Mindanao Regional Committee area of control, at the far southern end of the Andap Valley, Front 20, the Conrado Heredia Command, once again attacked an AFP column on patrol in the municipality of Trento's Barangay New Visayas. The soldiers, from the 75IB, the perennial target of Front 20, managed to turn the tables and almost over-run the entire NPA force of thirty guerillas. Two guerillas were wounded, and although they were able to escape with the help of their mates, they left their weaponry so that the AFP captured one M16 and one Garand M1. In the process however one soldier was also wounded critically.

The capturing of weaponry from the NPA is very important. The NPA has always had more guerillas than rifles. An un-armed NPA guerilla isn't reaking havoc up and down the countryside. Apart from three boatloads of AK47s from China in the early 1970s- two of which were interdicted- the NPA has never had a foreign weapons conduit. Relying on piecemeal captures from soft targets it slowly accumulates long arms but as we see here, they also lose them. Therefore this ebb and flow keeps the NPA from expanding in any substantiative way and moreover, relegates all of Eastern Mindanao into a killing field.

As for the AFP capturing NPA weaponry...In the past the AFP put such a premium on weaponry that each captured assault rifle earned a promotion in rank. That quickly ended though when overly-ambitious soldiers and Junior Officers began murdering non-combatants believed to own such weapons.

NPA Armed Contacts for the Fourth Quarter of 2011, Part II: Release of Lingig Mayor Henry Dano and Two Soldiers from the 75IB

In a prior "NPA Armed Contacts for the Third Quarter" entry I discussed the NPA attack on Mayor Henry Dano's home in the municipality of Lingig in Surigao del Sur Province. In that August 6th, 2011 attack by the NPA's Front 20, the Conrado Heredia Command of the SMRC, or Southern Mindanao Regional Committee, guerillas in plain clothes presented themselves as NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) Agents working a case in that town. As per Standard Operating Procedure the agents merely wished to make a courtesy call on Mayor Dano to apprise him of their presence and reason for it. Dano's residential compound was being guarded with an NCO, or Non-Commissioned Officer, Corporal Alrey de Samparado and a soldier, Private First Class Alan Saban, from the 75IB (Infantry Battalion). The soldier on duty, Saban, allowed three "NBI Agents" to enter the gated compound and was promptly disarmed of both his M16 and his 45 caliber sidearm. The guerillas then re-opened the compound's gate allowing a throng of fellow guerillas into the compound.

Using Saban as a decoy the NPA then infiltrated Dano's home and held him, his family, and his second security escort, Corporal Alrey de Samparado, at gunpoint as they searched the premises for weapons and intelligence. As I noted in my entry "NPA Armed Contacts for the Fourth Quarter, Part I," the usual NPA prisoner is released at the two week mark. As I also noted however, the impasse in the GPH-NDFP Peace Process (Government of the Philippines and National Democratic Front of the Philippines as the umbrela entity encompassing the NPA and its political wing, CPP, or Communist Party of the Philippines is known) has led to significantly longer captivities. The "impasse" revolves around a 1995 Joint Agreement known as JASIG, or the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees. As one might surmise JASIG was designed to protect NPA/CPP members involved in the Peace Process. Unfortunately for Mayor Dano et al the Government has failed to abide by the document with more than a dozen JASIG-protected personalities currently imprisoned in Philippine prisons.

Finally, in the last days of September on NDFP Peace Panel Chairperson Luis G.Jalandoni's fresh from his last sojourn to the Philippines (he is in exile in the Netherlands) both sides managed to make a tad bit of progress on the issue so that on September 28th the NPA ordered the release of Mayor Dano and his two security escorts, Saban and de Samparado. However, their release was put on hold as the AFP continued pushing tactical operations. Finally, on Sunday, October 9th, 2011, the NPA was able to release all three in the municipality of Trento's Barangay Pulang Lupa, in Agusan del Sur Province. At 3PM, in Sitio Upper New Visayas' Purok #5 the NPA's Front 20 held the typical NPA propaganda party with Surigao del Sur Governor Johnny Pimentel doing his part for Manila. At the Governor's side were the three wives of the prisoners who collapsed in tears upon first seeing their husbands enter the jungle clearing.

After the usual rigamorole Mayor Dano was escorted by Governor Pimentel to Davao City for a de-briefing and medical exam while Corporal de Samaparado and Private First Class Saban were driven to Brigade Headquarters in Bislig City, in Surigao del Sur Province. I am sure the last POL, or Proof of Life released by the NPA will be the first thing discussed. In that POL, released at the end of September, both men swore that they were quitting the AFP, and offered heartfelt apologies for their "counter-revolutionary activities" and "crimes against the people." Of particular note AFTERWARDS was an admonishment by the NPA in which it stated on October 6th that although both men were being released on humanitarian grounds, both men owed a "blood debt to the people" and that they were only being given a "conditional release" which left them still liable to execution in the future.

The bee in the NPA's bonnet was that both men, allegedly Military Inelligence assets, had played significant roles in an operation while both were formerly attached to the 36IB in which they were, according to the NPA spin meisters, for the death of a cadre in Front 6 of the NCMRC, or Northcentral Mindanao Regional Committee. Likewise, during their current role as Security Escorts for Mayor Dano and attached to the 75IB they allegedly provided intelligence that led to the 6th Scout Rangers Company and 25IB over running a rendevouz of five NPA Fronts on May 29th, 2011. The meeting, at an NPA encampment in the municipality of Cateel in Davao Oriental Province, led to the lover of Front 20's Secretary, or leader, becoming a quadripalegic. That lover, Vanessa "Ka Enchang" de los Reyes was one of three guerillas personally airlifted by Davao City Vice Mayor slash local warlord Rodrigo "Roddy" Duterte in a Government helicopter so as to get Ms.de los Reyes life saving medical care in Davao City.

IF either man had any real role in that sordid affair I have no doubt that Front 20 members would have already killed them. Front 20, co-incidentally, aside from being the Front operating in the municipality of Lingig, was also the island's Custodial Front. Any prisoner taken on Mindanao was held by Front 20 but with that May 29th operation that responsibility passed to Front 53, the Herminio Alfonso Command of the SMRC. Yet, Mayor Dano and these two Security Escorts were retained by Front 20 more out of logistical needs than anything else. Although Front 53 now holds that role it was already saddled with four BJMP, or Bureau of Jail Management and Prisons' employees who were captured by Front 88 of NCMRC while freeing high ranking cadre Dennis Rodinas on July 21st, 2011. Eventually six civilian prisoners would be added when, on August 10th, Front 88 "captured" six door to door salesmen who, as of this writing on Monday, October 10th, remain in captivity. Therefore Front 20 was delegated the care of Mayor Dano and these two AFP members. Had there been a real connection to Ms.de los Reyes' injuries this wouldn't have been allowed to transpire.

GPH-NDFP Peace Process for the Third Quarter, Part IV: Rodrigo Duterte Takes Off his Mask

For the longest I have been discussing Davao City warlord Rodrigo "Roddy" Duterte and his "friendship" with the NPA. Duterte, currently serving as Davao City's Vice Mayor under his daughter, Bench Warmer- I mean- Mayor, Sarah "Inday" Duterte Carpio makes no secret of his respect and admiration of the Maoist NPA and its objectives. Soon after first gaining power in the city in the late 1980s Duterte entered into what was initially a relationship of convenience with local NPA leader Leonicio Parago who is much better known by his nom de guerre "Ka Parago."

At the time much of Davao City was a battlefield with the NPA and various state sponsored paramilitaries duking it out with the non-combatants serving as cannon fodder for both sides. Enter Rodrigo Duterte. The son of a former provincial governor Duterte learned to play the game early on. Graduating law school he became a city prosecutor in Davao City, or what used to be called a City Fiscal, after a short stint as an instructor at the PNP, or Philippine National Police Academy in Manila. It was in this capacity that Duterte first came close to the NPA. By the end of 1985 Duterte's mother Soledad, known popularly as "Nanay Soleng," had fortuitously become the Davao Regional Chairperson of Corazon "Cory" Aquino's "Yellow Friday Movement." At the time Duterte himself had risen in the City Fiscal Office to the position of Special Counsel, charged with dealing with detained high ranking NPA figures. These two parallel tracks converged in 1986 when newly elected President Cory Aquino had Duterte appointed OIC (Officer in Charge) Vice Mayor of the City.

By 1987 Duterte began readying himself for the 1988 Mayoral Election in which he would be bucking the system by running for Mayor against Aquino's hand picked candidate, Zafiro Respicio. Though Duterte held a chance on his own owing to an inherent advantage offered by three other strong candidates besides Respicio throwing their hats into the ring, thus splitting the vote five ways, Duterte naturally sought to solidify his candidacy and therefore came up with a very risky but nevertheless ingenious scheme. As leader of the Aquino political machine in the Davao Region Duterte's mother became, in 1986, the Government's Chairperson in the brand new GPH-NDFP Peace Process which ridiculously had been engineered at the sub-regional level, as if a nationwide peace process wouldn't be complicated enough in a country with hundreds of ethnicities and languages (of course in those days the GPH was still the "GRP" and the NDFP was still the "NDF"). This position allowed Duterte, by tagging along with his mother, to capitalise on relationships already made in his role as Special Counsel at the City Fiscal's Office.

So it was that the NPA and Duterte made their "deal." In exchange for the NPA guaranteeing Duterte the vote in all NPA controlled barangays and districts Duterte vowed to run interference on the Government's side in allowing the NPA to carve out a large enclave comprising three of the city's outlying districts, an arrangement that exists until the present. Aside from merely gaining power Duterte, much to his credit, realised that he could use that initial deal as the foundation of a far more important arrangement that would benefit the entire region above and beyond Duterte's own narrow and purient interests. When he won election as Mayor in 1988 Duterte realised that the only way to build a power base in which his role was non-negotiable was to first, end the bloodshed that turned Davao City into the nation's most violent municipality bar none. Then, after reversing the municipality's status into that of a peaceful and stable community, make it conducive to investment and that Pilippine Holy Grail, "Peace and Development." Again, to his credit, Duterte had realised something most Philippine officials have yet to understand, "Peace and Development" is a universal value that must be applicable to ALL demographic shareholders. IF Bisaya, as the Christians on Mindanao are usually collectively labeled, needed to enjoy a stable, peaceful environment, so did the Moros, as the Filipino Muslims on Mindanao are collectively labeled. If Liberal Democratic groups desired employment opportunities with long term security, so did the multi-sectoral front organisations backing the NPA. Ergo, Duterte set about meeting all his constituents' needs.

Meeting with emmisaries of Ka Parago Duterte eventually brokered an agreement that relegated the NPA to those same aforementioned three city districts:


1) Paquibato

2) Toril

3) Marilog


and to a lesser extent the districts of Baguio and Calinan. In these three districts Duterte gave the NPA carte blanche to run a parallel government and run it as they saw fit. While Duterte couldn't do much in the way of keeping the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines, out of the NPA enclave it has often run heavy interference, most notably in the Summer of 2010 when, under Duterte's daughter, Mayor Carpio, the city withdrew its funding and co-operation for AFP tactical operations within the entire city (aside from the anti-terrorism Task Force Davao). Since then the city government and the AFP have managed to reconcile to an uneasy working relationship with each "respecting" the others' strong ideological stance but there is still no co-operation.


Vice Mayor Duterte betrays his position with little regard to what others will think or say. Having built Davao City into a bastion of economic stability on the back of his "no principles" political stance he has himself been given carte blanche by the region's movers and shakers. As long as the pesos keep pouring in, Duterte can step on anyone and anything he wants. Part of Duterte's shtick has been acting as the pointman on any NPA captures of Government personnel, anywhere on the island. Because of the warm relationship that the Maoists share with Duterte anyone captured by the guerillas is bery quickly handed off to the NPA "Custodial Front," Front 20, which encamps on the edge of Davao City. However, Front 20, the Conrado Heredia Front took a bad blow in late May of 2011 when the AFP's 6th Scout Rangers Company backed by the 25IB (Infantry Battalion) overan a rendevouz of four NPA Fronts in the municipality of Cateel, in Davao Oriental Province. Since then Front 53, the Herminio Alfonso Command, has assumed the role of Custodial Front though it too also encamps on a different section of Davao City's border.

Whenever the NPA captures a soldier or police officer Big Daddy Duterte "negotiates" their release with the NPA. It is absolutely win:win for Duterte in that it further endears him to the disparate political factions on the island, further entrenches his position as irreplacable peace maker and perhaps most of all, guarantees the publicity loving Duterte gads and gads of media exposure and face time. Conversely, when guerillas find themselves in difficult positions it is Big Daddy who comes to their rescue. When the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines, attacked that camp in Cateel and three NPA guerillas were critically wounded (including the lover of Front 20's Secretary, or leader) it was Duterte himself that took a Government helicopter to actually go out and pick up the three wounded fighters. He then had all three flown to Davao City for lifesaving treatment while hundreds, neigh thousands of Duterte's own constituents are too poor to even purchase Tylenon to ease the rigours of child birth.

During the Cristmas Season of 2010 Duterte and Mayor Carpio actually travelled the NPA's regional camp on the outskirts of Davao City's Paquibato District. The NPA has no qualms about capturing mayors and yet Duterte neglected to even bring a single bodyguard. As he said then, he and local guerilla leader Leonicio "Ka Parago" Pitao are "old friends." How much more apparent was it when on, August 29th, 2011, Duterte had supper with NDFP Peace Panel Chairperson, Luis G.Jalandoni. Jalandoni extended an invitation- which Duterte accepted without reservation- to serve as a Resource Person on the NDFP Peace Panel. Normally anyone serving in Government would blanche at such an offer. For one thing, it contravenes the Philippine Constitution and violates at least three laws to say nothing of the serious ethical breeches that would ensue. Anyone even considering such an offer would spend days (at least) consulting both with his or her attorneys as well as well as with Manila. The normal course of affairs a mayor, or vice-mayor, would have to consult the DILG, or the Department of the Interior and Local Government for its guidance and indeed, its permission. Duterte though? The next morning he giddily sent out a Group SMS (a text to all Philippine journalists "approved" by him personally) explaining that he had happily accepted the offer at supper.

On the Sunday morning edition of Duterte's two weekly television shows, "Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa" ("From the Masses, to the Masses" in Cebuano, aka the Bisaya Language) he explained just why he always acts as the pointman when the NPA captures Government personnel but NEVER does so when private citizens are taken by the Maoists, or at least tried to...Vis a vis the six door to door salesman from Misamis Oriental Province who were taken by the NPA's Front 88 of the Northcentral Mindanao Regional Comittee on August 10th, 2011, just before they crossed into Davao City's Paquibato District from the municipality of San Fernando in Bukidnon Province. According to Front 88 the six men:

1) Nelson Bagares

2) James Maybaylan

3) Ronald Boiles

4) Ernesto Callo

5) Segundino Dailo Jr.

6) Julieto Sarsabo

are spies. As "proof" the NPA ridiculously points out that all six men sold sleeping mats (most rural Filipinos don't use beds) and were deep in the bush where settlement is very sparse. Ergo, why would six men congregate in an area where even one man would be hard pressed to sell even two mats in an entire day? Moreover the NPA says, some of the men were telling people they encountered that they were ex-NPA themselves and trying to seduce locals into discussing the NPA in hopes of gleaning intelligence. In my post focusing on the initial abduction of these six men I noted that it was the forbear of the Northcentral Mindanao Regional Committee that was single handedly responsible for the murderous NPA purges that began with Kampanyang Ahos (the Garlic Campaign) in 1985 and soon spread across the entire nation. As I noted then, it seems that the NPA hasn't learned much from its garish mistakes.

The wives of five of the men (only Julieto Sarsabo had noone representing him) travelled to Davao City in late August to personaly beg Vice Mayor Duterte to intercede with his NPA comrades (pun intended) to seek their husbands' safe release. On the show in question Duterte explained that he could not seek the mens' release because he is no longer "objective." Of course Duterte has never been objective when it comes to the NPA, least not since 1988, but his excuse fails to explain why- to my knowledge- he has never once interceded on behalf of private citizens. So, his joining the NDFP Peace Panel now allows Duterte to abdicate his sworn responsibilities to the citizens of the Philippines. I wish I could say that I was shocked or suprised but unlike Duterte, I cannot lie.

However, even I was suprised when Duterte said the following, in Bisaya, "Dili maayo tanawon sa tawa nga moduwa ko ba, mogunit ka sa politikanhong pag-istorya tapos maneuvering sa NPA ug asa positions. That isn't smart." Idiomatically, in English, "I must stop interceding on the part of NPA prisoners because it would be unethical if I continued doing that. Moreover, if I keep travelling to NPA positions in order to intercede, the OTHER SIDE (emphasis is ALL mine) to track my movements and in that way compromise NPA encampments. That isn't smart." So now the Government Duterte has sworn to defend and uphold is "the other side"? I admit, his gall left me dumbfounded. He belongs on the AFP Order of Battle as much as any NPA leader, with a value equal to Ka Parago.

As if all that isn't jaw dropping enough, on the following Sunday, on that same show, Duterte back pedaled furiously saying the following while speaking in English, "One thing I can assure you, I am a Government employee and I swear to defend the Constitution of the Government of the Philippines. I will never, never, and never give an advice that may destroy our land [sic]." Of course Manila had reacted to the preceding Sunday's comments but not nearly as much as it should of. The ignorance represented by Duterte swearing he will never act against the Constitution even as he officialy declares himself aligned with the NDFP, an entity sworn to contravene that same Constitution is beyond words.

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.

NPA Armed Contacts for the Third Quarter of 2011, Part I: Attack on Trento by Front 3 and Front 20

Charity Galvez grew up in the municipality of San Francisco, or as locals usually call it, San Franz, in the province of Agusan del Sur. Like most members of her Bisaya ethnicity, or those of means anyway, she was afforded a parochial education. In the late-1970s/early-1980s that meant boarding at Father Saturnino Urios College in Northeast Mindanao's largest population centre, Butuan City, in Agusan del Norte Province. Moving onto university Charity pursued, and gained, a degree in Education, realising her chilhood dream to teach and help others. Returning to her alma mater, Father Urios, Charity spent 8 years teaching young people.

Along the way Ms.Galvez ended up marrying her childhood sweetheart who had himself gained a job with the San Franz city government, ensuring that the town's municipal water supply remained safe and secure. With encouragement from her husband Ms.Galvez returned to university part time where she pursued a newly developed but avid interest in Criminology. By 2000 Charity had decided to change direction career wise and applied with the PNP, or Philippine National Police, hoping to be able to use her credentials in one capacity or another. In 2002 Ms. Galvez was given that chance when the PNP hired her as a technician and deployed her to the Agusan del Sur PPO, or Police Provincial Office in the provincial capital of Prosperidad.

By 2008 the highly determined woman wanted more and was able to take advantage of the PNP's Lateral Entry programme that affords PNP personnel the opportunity to laterally transfer departments while retaining accrued sniority and/or rank. This enabled Ms.Galvez to quickly rise to the PNP's second highest field rank, Inspector. Assigned to investigate criminal incidents throughout the province she was recognised as an able and dedicated officer. In April of 2011, just after returning to duty after giving birth the month before, she was named Chief of the Trento MPO, or Municipal Police Office. It was seen as a natural fit seeing as how the town of Trento sits immediately south of her hometown, San Franz.

Given a fifteen man garrison situated in the town's municipal compound in Barangay Poblacion she dove right into the thick of things by directing her force to construct fire positions throughout the compound, especially a large pile of tyres to the left of the MPO building, the compound's most vulnerable position. With an NPA attack on the Panabo City City Police Office having just taken place on March 20th Inspector Chief Galvez knew she needed to take a proactive stance. How much more so when on April 28th, just after having assumed command, another NPA attack against an MPO/CPO took place. Though the attack in the municipality of Lianga, in the adjoining province of Surigao del Sur had been unsuccessful, the first one, in nearby Panabo City, ended with the NPA overrunning that municipality's garrison resulting in the NPA capturing weapons and breaking morale. Moreover, that town's police force was decimated by PNP brass with noone suffering more than the Panabo City Chief of Police vis a vis the principle of Command Responsibility being first and foremost when the heads began to roll.

Hiring a yaya, or nanny, Chief Galvez began bringing her infant daughter (and yaya) to work where the three shared Chief Galvez's cramped corner office as a sort of home away from home. On July 30th, 2011 the three had once again settled in for a night's sleep. It had been an incredibly hectic day for Ms.Galvez. The Provincial Chief of Police had finally granted her long standing request for reinforcements and had deployed two teams from Agusan del Sur's PPSCs, or Police Public Safety Companies. The municipality's southern sectors were badly in need of men to handle the rampant illegal logging trade. Aside from the violence that goes hand in hand with any illicit trade the NPA had attacked a logging checkpoint in Trento's Barangay Pulang Lupa. Killing three men the guerillas also captured two police officers. Though the attack took place on February 1st, two months before Chief Galvez assumed command, it was a surefire reminder of the municipality - and her job's vulnerabilities.

At 330AM, July 31st, a police sentry noticed 3 Isuzu Forward trucks drive slowly into the centre of town and park at 3 strategic points. Recognising that something was wrong he alerted fellow officers but before any of them could take appropriate action M203 rifle grenades began hitting inside the compound. The 40 guerillas from Front 3 (Alejandro Lenaja Command, Southern Mindanao Regional Committee or SMRC) and Front 20 (Conrado Heredia Command, SMRC) had taken up positions around the compound's perimeter and in an unusual touch, employed an M60 whose massive rounds began pockmarking the facade of the station itself.

Awoken from her fitful sleep Inspector Chief Galvez quickly ushered her yaya and infant daughter into a small closet at the rear of her office. She then grabbed an M16 and attempted to take a position at the station's front door in between each massive barrage from the NPA's M60. Bolstered by the two PPSC teams that had been deployed to her garrison just the afternoon before Inspector Galvez was able to stave off the assault while only losing one man and two officers suffering only moderate wounds. The lone fatality, Salvador Ralla Jr. of Trento, was the station's gofer. Each MPO, or CPO in the case of cities, unofficially employs at least one local civilian as a general helper and an errand boy. Mr.Ralla was killed after engaging the attackers with an M16. Unable to overun the compound the NPA guerillas split into small groups and withdrew in different directions, in the trucks which were abandoned a short distance from the town centre. Then, still in 3 groups, the NPA withdrew into the Diwata Mountains towards the northeast.

The two wounded police officers, a PO1 with the newly deployed PPSC teams and a PO3 with the MPO were bundled into a PNP van and rushed north for the long 120 kilometer ride to Butuan City for treatment. However, as the van reached Manat Bridge, or Crossing Manat as it is known locally, an NPA detachment serving as a Blocking Force detonated an IED (Improvised Explosive Device, as in "bomb") in an ambush. The van was untouched by the explosion and quickly sped away unscathed, continuing on to Butuan City. Likewise, not long after an Armed Forces of the Philippines, or AFP truck from the 75IB (Infantry Battalion) ALSO averted catastrophe from a second IED detonation on the opposite end of the bridge as it rushed into Trento to reinforce the MPO. Like the first attempted ambush the latter incident failed to incur any casualties or damage.

Unfortunately, a second NPA detachment, part of an estimated 200 man force positioned strategically around the town's main entrances managed to launch a more successful ambush. Serving as a Blocking Force near that aforementioned logging checkpoint in Barangay Pulang Lupa, it ambushed a truck carrying CAFGU CAAs into town as reinforcements. CAFGU, or Civilian Auxiliary Force Geographical Unit is the cornerstone of the AFP's COIN, or Counterinsurgency programme. A military reserve unit under the command of a cadre battalion from the AFP, it is restricted to operating within a certain municipality wherein all soldiers serving in it reside. CAFGU soldiers are known as CAAs, or Civilian Active Auxiliaries. In this case the CAFGU detachment in question was from the adjoining municipality of Santa Josefa. As the truck carrying the CAAs sped through Pulang Lupa the NPA iniated a barrage of rifle fire that killed one CAA, Vergilio Perocho.

In clearing the town centre the 75IB recovered an abandoned utility van used by one of the NPA Blocking Force detachments, but nothing more. As usual the NPA managed to avoid hundreds of "pursuing" soldiers, police officers, and CAAs. The next day, August 1st, 2 gunshot victims entered Bislig District Hospital in Bislig City, in Surigao del Sur Province, nearly 90 kilometers from the Trento municipal compound. Bislig City's CPO arrested both men:

1) Sammy Calibayan, age 35, of Barangay La Fortuna in the municipality of Veruela, in Agusan del Sur Province

2) Ricky M. Salde, age 28, from the municipality of New Bataan in Compostela Valley, or Comval Province.

In a weak attempt to protect co-operating hospital personnel the PNP claims that a vigiliant civilian sent an SMS (text message) concerning the two gunshot victims. Taking both men from the hospital the officers transported the two suspects to CPO Headquarters where both reportedly admitted having taken part in the attack in Trento. Of course such admissions hold absolutely no value. To offer a tad bit of perspective, in a recent incident I will be posting about a bit later, a suspected Abu Sayyaf guerilla was nabbed by AFP Intelligence agents in Basilan Province. To gain HIS admission they chained him spread eagled and naked. Then using a 1 liter glass cola bottle they gave the man a gasoline enema. As if that wasn't enough they then used an oxy-acetylene torch on the suspect's genitals and face. Even worse, this took place BEFORE the encounter on Jolo Island that killed seven AFP Marines, two of whom were then decapitated. Again, an incident I will cover soon.

On Monday, August 8th, the PNP held its 110th Anniversary Celebration at its headquarters in Metro Manila's Camp Crame. Inspector Chief Galvez was on hand to join in the festivities. Indeed, she was the focal point of the celebration as President Aquino awarded her the PNP's highest decoration, the Medal for Bravery for "conspicuous courage and gallantry in action." In addition, while at the podium, the President turned to Secretary Jesse Robredo of the DILG and asked him why he hadn't also promoted Ms.Galvez. The DILG, or Department of the Interior and Local Government is the branch under which the PNP serves. By the end of the President's remarks Inspector Chief Galvez had evolved into Senior Inspector Chief Galvez, having obtained the PNP's highest field rank in just three years of actual service.

That same day, Monday, August 8th, the AFP began a major push against the NPA in and around Trento. Using two MG520 helicopter gunships with two Hueys on site the 75IB led the way. Unfortunately a corporal from the 26IB and a CAA from the Bagani Force were both killed:

1) Corporal Antonio Manser T.Morgadez, Cadre Officer, 26IB

2) CAA Ricky Lantong, Bagani Force, aged 40 and a resident of Barangay Kasapa in the municipality of La Paz in Agusan del Sur Province

The two fatalities took place at Sitio Kilometer 2 in the municipality of Loreto's Barangay Binocayan when a Bagani Force detachment under Datu Dario "Malampuson" Otaza with cadre officer Corporal Morgadez commanding stumbled across an NPA detachment from Front 34 (Davao-Agusan Command, Northeastern Mindanao Regional Committee, or NEMRC) at 7AM. The subsequent firefight lasted until 9AM and resumed again at 5PM after a second chance encounter before petering out just after 10PM that same night. The AFP has been proudly declaring that it killed 13 NPA guerillas between those two engagements but of course they haven't recovered a single body.

NPA Armed Contacts for the Second Quarter of 2011,Part II:Release of 2 Captured Soldiers and the Battle for a 200 Man Camp in Davao Region

Sunday,May 29,2011 was a day to remember for the families of 2 captured AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) soldiers.With little warning they found that their loved ones would finally be coming home after a difficult 45 days as"guests"of the NPA.On April 14 Corporal Delfin Largo Sarocam and Private First Class (PFC) Jayson Burgos Valenzuela of the 57IB (Infantry Battalion) were escorting a former Barangay Kagawad (Councillor) Eliory Lastimosa to a community forum to orient the community on the AFP's plans to deploy a PDT (Peace and Development Team,"Hearts and Minds"mechanism that serves as the cornerstone of the present Counterinsurgency (COIN) Programme,"Operational Plan-aka OPlan-Bayanihan") into the community.

As the 3 men entered the barangay in question,Datu Puas Inda,in the North Cotabato Provincial municipality of President Roxas,they came to an NPA checkpoint manned by 20 guerillas in Sitio Dalinding.Having been waiting especially for the 3 the guerillas quickly moved to divest the soldiers of their 45 caliber sidearms and then just as rapidly bundled them off into the jungle as prisoners of Front 53,the Herminio Alfonso Command (SMRC aka Southern Mindanao Regional Committee,1 of 5 NPA Regional Committees on Mindanao).Marched overland on foot they were initially taken to a Front 53 Camp in the neighbouring town of Arakan before later being transferred to Front 20,the Conrado Heredia Command,the custodial unit for the SMRC as a whole.

As has been the case for the last 3 years the capture was almost a non-event.These goings on have become oh so common place and downright predictable.Soldiers or police officers are held for up to 90 days during which the NPA engages in repetitive propaganda exercises and issues grandiose statements to the media about the Hague and the Geneva Conventions.Local politicians and Catholic clergymen participate in this almost surreal psychodrama as the poor families of these captured soldiers lay in bed crying,wondering whether or not they will ever see their husbands,sons and fathers again.Of course they will,it is already scripted but noone outside this very narrow mileu understands that.Indeed,even most within this small world couldn't care less and so it continues.

On April 28th the requisite POL (Proof of Life) was released to the powers that be.An audio tape of each captive telling their loved ones not to worry and that they are getting enough sleep and adequate food was passed out with the de riguer"They are treating me very well."In fact they should just mass produce these POLs and simply leave the names blank,filling them in as they go.The POL package included a photo of each prisoner holding up a recently dated local newspaper so as to verify the POL's currency.Both men asked the AFP to cease and desist in their Search and Rescue Operations.Not even AFP personnel want to be rescued by the AFP.The"shoot first and don't even bother asking questions ever"mentality is enough to make any non-suicidal person nervous.The only unusual aspect was Corporal Sarocam's request that the Iglesia ng Kristo (Church of Christ) negotiate for his release.

Not to be confused with the Western-based denomination"Church of Christ,"this denomination is a homegrown sect that imparts messianic qualities to its late founder.A very rich group,as well it should be since adherants must pay cash fines for every prayer meeting and Bible study they fail to attend (or even arrive late for).Obviously Sarocam is a member and the message is code for,"Pay my fuc*en' ransom FAST."The NPA,like any insurgent organisation is continuously strapped for cash.It isn't easy when you have to pay P45 ($1.05) per 5.56MM bullet when buying from your local IB CO (Commanding Officer).Hey,at 1 US a day combat per diem you can't blame the AFP,they have needs just like the rest of us.

Fast forward to May 29th,North Cotabato Provincial Vice Governor Gregorio Ipong and Catholic Church Negotiator Father Paul Paracha eagerly drove to Barangay Balite in the provincial municipality of Magpet to await directions from Fr.Paracha's NPA contact on where to retrieve the 2 soldiers.Upon entering the barangay they were directed by cell phone to the outlying sitio of Laquiahon where the NPA had prepared its usual circle jer* of a love fest,everyone smiling for the cameras,assigned seats for local politicos and Church"leaders."The 2 soldiers then joined the priest and Vice Governor for the long drive to Kidapawan City in South Cotabato Province where they were reunited with their families at Bishop Romulo de la Cruz's Official Residence in Barangay Balindog.The Kidapawan Diocese needed to get its money's worth of publicity having had to shell out a pretty penny for PFC.Valenzuela's ransom.

On the same day that Valenzuela and Sarocam were enjoying a very brief respite before IS-AFP (AFP Intelligence Service) Debriefing began,their compatriots were busy elsewhere on the island.

The Scout Rangers 2nd Battalion,6th COY (Company) on a Recon (Reconnaisance Op) in the municipality of Cateel in Davao Oriental Province stumbled across a column of NPA guerillas from the aforementioned Front 20 and the 30 minute firefight led to the AFP rushing blindly through the dense jungle in a rarely launched Hot Pursuit Operation (despite the claims of the AFP to undertake such operations under its SOP,or Standard Operating Procedure).Why do it then?As I noted earlier in this entry Front 20,the Conrado Heredia Command,is the custodial unit of that particular NPA Regional Command,SMRC (Southern Mindanao Regional Committee).Though both captured soldiers had already been released in North Cotabato Province the AFP doesn't immediately relay these facts to its field units.The 6th Scout Ranger COY saw an opportunity to earn accolades by"rescuing"2 of their comrades in arms.

How did our fearless defenders of the Philippines aim to conduct their"Rescue Op"?Discovering a huge 200 man camp in the middle of densely packed jungle in Barangay Aliwagwag's Sitio Carampel (Karimpel) the 40 Scouts,under Capt.Aunor Balansi crawled on their bellies to within 30 meters of the camp's outlying bunkers.Setting up a loose perimeter (think of a noose,opened at one end so as to allow a clear avenue of escape).The camp also housed Front 25,the SMRC's Regional Operations Command and also served as a logistical hub for SMRC Fronts at the northern end of the SMRC's area of operations.Therefore,as luck would have it,members of Front 15,the Antonio Nerio Command were also on site.

The AFP's official narrative claims that its men crawled on their bellies to within 30 meters of the camp's large bunkers.This is not the usual AFP way in which to launch an attack but the locale is so deeply forested as to be inaccessible even to fast roping infiltration by helicopters (as IF the AFP EVER does THAT),meaning it is incredibly thickly covered with rain forest flora.So,the 30 meters bit is absolutely believable.Likewise so is the AFP boast that they opened fire on what would have been unarmed guerillas.However,to assault a 200 man camp under the element of full suprise and still fail to retrieve a single captured prisoner or even a single KIA (Killed in Action,as in dead guerillas) just defies belief.

The usual AFP "assault"involves an opened perimeter.As I noted just above,picture an open noose,laid around a camp.Now,if you are a capable officer you deploy a Blocking Force along that open end of the"noose"which serves as an avenue of escape,if not actually tying the noose shut to prevent any escape to begin with.The Blocking Force serves to mop up those guerillas rushing headlong out of the camp hoping to avoid capture or annihilation.Imagine 200 dead or captured guerillas?What a coup that would be for the AFP.In reality the AFP almost always leaves a clear avenue for escape sans Blocking Force.The camp is the prize,not its personnel.

To show you how worthless the AFP mindset is,that very same camp had been captured in June of 2010.

The 25IB had been on a Search and Rescue Op for...deja vu...2 captured AFP soldiers:

1) Staff Sergeant Bienvenido Arguelles

2) CAFGU Job Latiban

who like the soldiers mentioned at the beginning of my post had been captured at an NPA checkpoint in ComVal's (Compostela Valley Province) Monkayo,a town immediately adjacent to Cateel despite the provincial border.In that"assault"a 30 minute firefight ended with Front 20,Front 25 and Front 3,the Alejandro Lanaja Command,escaping down that requisite unmolested avenue.

In the May 29th"capture"the AFP was able to claim an actual victory in the caprure of 5 rifles:two M16s,two M14s and one M4.The June,27,2010 capture resulted in 4 IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices,as in homemade bombs) and 6 rifles whose make and variation I noted in the NPA Armed Contact/Tactical Offence entry for the relevant time period.This latest camp"capture"resulted in 3 AFP WIAs (Wounded in Actions) though the NPA is ALSO claiming to have killed 8 men there as well,including 2 junior officers.

In terms of NPA casualties there were 2 guerilla KIAs and 4 WIAs,3 of which are extremely critical.Interestingly the Front 20 contact person contacted everybody's favourite mass murderer,Vice Mayor Rodrigo"Roddy"Duterte and asked him for assistance in saving the lives of those 3 critically injured insurgents.As I noted recently Duterte long ago entered into a working relationship with the NPA's Leonicio"Ka Parago"Pitao in which Duterte"sold"him the right to operate in 4 of the city's outlying districts.

The 3 wounded guerillas:

1) Jason"Ka Jerome"Casilum,of Davao City's Calinan District

2) Ariel"Ka Diwa"Haducala,of Dinagat Island which may or may not be a province of its own depending upon the day you read this.If it isn't it will still be Surigao del Norte Province.The Supreme Court can't make up its mind on the issue.

3) Vanessa"Ka Enching"Tropico de los Reyes,also of Calinan District,Davao City

were retrieved on Wednesday,June 1st by a Davao City helicopter in which Duterte personally rode shotgun (the same copter which he openly brags about having used it to drop people head first into the ocean).The 3 were then airlifted to Davao City where Duterte has personally vowed to protect them from apprehension (hope his vow means more than it did this past Christmas when it led to Edwin Brigano's capture).The 3,along with the 4th wounded guerilla were originally taken to an NPA-friendly hospital in Bislig,Surigao del Sur Province.Virtually all NPA-friendly hospitals are in deplorable condition so that Front 20 Secretary,known by the nom de guerre"Ka Jess,"felt compelled to call in a big favour to Vice Mayor Duterte.This would never have happened had the female guerilla,Ms.de los Reyes not been Ka Jess' lover.Sadly she is now parapelgic since a bullet severed her spinal cord.She also lost 1 kidney so that her condition is extremely grave.Her shocked mother believed her daughter had been teaching Political Science at a public university in Davao City,suprise...suprise...suprise.

Touching down at 3AM on June 2nd the 3 were rushed to Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City where they remain as of this posting.

The NPA Continues to Spread its Xmas Cheer

In my previous post I had gone into great detail about the jump starting of the decades old GRP-NDF Peace Process as well as a very brief description of a single NPA tactical offencive that took place 4 days ago in Davao City. Of course that 1 incident is only 1 of many armed engagements involving the NPA here in Mindanao so I thought it prudent to give a more in depth accounting of the latest NPA armed engagements.


As I had discussed in my previous post, Friday night, December 10, 2010 saw the NPA's Merardo Arce Command confound the 10ID (Infantry Division) with a full infiltration of the Barangay Mapula CAFGU (Citizens Armed Force Geographical Unit, an official paramilitary geographically linked to a specific municipality) in Davao City's Paquibato District. The NPA was able to do so without firing a single shot owing to the very experienced planning and execution of the operational commander. Leonicio "Ka Parago" Pitao personally led an element of his 1st Pulang Bagani Company, all of them dressed in AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) uniforms captured during previous armed contacts with the AFP.

Travelling to Mapula they abducted the Barangay Captain and a local datu (tribal chief) before the group set out for the CAFGU post.Like a typical CAFGU post anywhere in the nation on a Friday night the Mapula post had a skeleton crew on duty, 9 CAFGU soldiers and the detachment CO (Commanding Officer) ,an AFP NCO (Non Commisioned Officer) , Cpl.Fresilo Dosel of the 72IB (Infantry Battalion). As soon as the detachment realised that their friendly visitors were not AFP regulars but rather Maoist guerillas 8 of the 9 abandoned their post after throwing their rifles down and running away. Capturing the CO's M14 and the detachment's 9 M1s (vintage Garands) and taking the 1 CAFGU soldier and the AFP NCO hostage the group left. After travelling out of Paquibato District all 4 captives were released unharmed.

December 07, 2010, the same day that the annual Xmas Ceasefire was unilaterally announced by the NPA, in Purok #9, Barangay Pasian, Monkayo, ComVal (Compostela Valley Province), the 25IB
(Infantry Battalion) was on patrol when it stumbled onto a temporary encampment of 10 guerillas from the NPA's Front 3 (Alejandro Lanaja Command) inside an abandoned nipa (thatched hut, most common form of housing in the Philippines). After a brief but extremely intence fire fight 6 guerillas withdrew leaving behind 4 mates. 3 were dead but the 4th, Lea "Ka Tanya" Palma Gil from Mati, Davao Oriental Province had taken a round in her right thigh leaving her unable to move. The 25IB radioed in for a Medevac (helicopter evacuation for advanced medical treatment) to transport the young lady to Camp Panacan Hospital at 10ID (Infantry Division) HQ in Davao City. Unfortunately the bullet severed an artery and 20 minutes into the 25 minute flight Palma Gil died. In addition to the 4 dead guerillas rifles, all M16s, 3 of their fleeing comrades had abandoned theirs as well, for a total of 7 rifles captured by the AFP in that short engagement: 5 M16s, 1 M14 and 1 M1 (vintage Garand). Also captured were 2 IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices, aka "bombs").

On December 05, 2010 in Barangay Tandik, Maragusan, ComVal, the NPA's Front 27 ambushed a column from the Scout Rangers 2nd Battalion while the latter was on patrol but the NPA took the worst of it with 1 guerilla killed and his M16 captured by the AFP. The dead guerilla, Juanito "Ka JunJun" Bustamente was from Sitio Patalangon, Barangay Zone #1, Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur Province. The young man was an assistant on a jeepney but when the vehicle's owner sold it in the Spring of 2010 Bustamente told his family he was going to try to find work in Manila. Instead he ended up as a bamboo harvester in ComVal. Starting that difficult job in late June, by August, 2010 he had become an NPA regular... little more than 60 days later he was dead.

On November 30, 2010 in Barangay Paloc, Maragusan, the NPA's Front 27 (Rhyme Petalcorin Command) ambushed a 50 man column of the Scout Rangers 5th Company with 3 simaltaneously detonated IEDs. 5 Scout Rangers were killed, 10 were wounded, 6 critically.The NPA lost 1 guerilla, known by his nom de guerre, "Ka Boogie,"


On November 25, 2010 in Barangay Hagpa, Impasug-ong, Bukidnon Province the family of a recently killed guerilla from the NPA's Julito Tiro Command were inexplicably denied permission by the 8IB to disinter the grave if their loved one, Joel "Ka Toto" Compas of Barangay Bangbang, Medina, Misamis Oriental
despite representatives from the ICRC (Red Cross) accompanying them. The family wished to re-bury Compas in his hometown but the 8IB citing security concerns in an NPA influenced barangay refused to issue a Safe Passage Permi to the party. Such permits are part of the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) and allow bearers to circumvent AFP/CAFGU/PNP checkpoints unmolested. Usually the AFP will agree to provide an armed security detail or else disinter the remains themselves and deliver them to a nearby funeral home. For some reason known only to the 8IB CMO (Civil Military Officer) this family was told to let their loved one rot in a shallow grave in an expanse of hinterland junfle.

On November 19, 2010 in that same previous barangay, Hagpa, in Impasug-on in Bukidnon Province, as a composite force from the 8 and 29IBs conducted ground operations against the NPA, a series if 105MM shells slammed into Bundok Talundanan in Sitio Bagong Silang. Talundanan is a Higaon-an and Pulangiyen Tribal holysite. Perhaps the 8IB's denial of passage to the ICRC 6 days later had a bit to do with negligently fired artillery shells...

November 16, 2010, in Sitio Membanta, Barangay Upper Ulip, Monkayo, in ComVal, Cpl.Daiem Amsali Hadjaie of the 25IB left his camp on his motorcycle en route to Camp Panacan Hospital in Davao City seeking treatment for abdominal cramping and a possibly unrelated skin condition. Minutes later he came across an NPA checkpoint implemented by Front 20 (Conrado Heredia Commamd). This time the NPA bit off more than their pouty little mouths could chew, Cpl.Hadjaie's abduction was a propagandist's nightmare. Not only was the 25 year old NCO ill, his wife was 8 and a half months pregnant and waiting for him in Camp Panacan. Going from bad to worse, Hadjaie is a Tausug Tribesmen, a Muslim. This by itself would be a major headache because of the risk in alienating other insurgent movements. The cherry on top was that the day in question was a Muslim holiday.

Both the MILF and MNLF quickly went to bat for the NCO which is as hypocritical as it gets seeing as how both those insurgencies kill AFP soldiers regardless of their tribal or religious allegiances. In any event Hadjaie was released to Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Davao City on November 28.


That same day in Barangay Limot, Luuk, ComVal, Bagani (tribal paramilitary sancrioned by the AFP but officially denied so as to avoid culpability when these poorly trained soldiers run amok) soldier under Kumander (CO) Isagani Carmelotes and based in Sitio Logom, Barangay Pagwas lured 2 local NPA regulars," Ka Jeffrey" and "Ka Iso," to the home of a 2nd Bagani soldier.The 2 guerillas were tortured and then had their limbs hacked off while still alive, before they bled to death. Isgani then personally surrendered the 2 guerillas' M16s to the post manned by 26IB's C COY (Company C) in Barangay Del Monte, Veruela, Agusan del Sur Province. The 2 dead NPA guerillas had been part of the detachment from Front 3 that had ambushed a composite AFP detachment from 26IB, 3rd Special Forces (Airborne) Battalion and Isgani's Bagani Company just days earlier.



November 10, 2010 in Barangay Upper Bala, Magsaysay, Davao del Sur Province, a detachment from the NPA's Valentin Palamine Command disarmed that barangay's CVO (Civilian Volunteer Auxiliary, the PNP equivalent of the AFP's CAFGU though almost always only found in Muslim areas). The NPA captured 2 M1s (Garands), 7 pump shotguns and a single 9MM pistols. The disarmament took place without a single shot being fired.

Lest anyone imagine the NPA to somehow be morally superior after reading my synopsis of the Bagani soldiers gruesome killing of 2 NPA guerillas in ComVal...

On November 02, 2010 in Sitio Bango, Barangay Ngan in the town of Compostela, in ComVal, offduty CAFGU soldier Albert Meniza was enjoying a rare quiet night off with his family when 3 female NPA guerillas kicked in his door, tied his arms behind his back and frog marched him into the jungle. Reaching a clearing hours later he was tied to a tree. Shortly there after a detachment from the Merardo Arce Command's Pulang Bagani Company 4 under "Ka Jason" entered the clearing. After interrogating Meniza Ka Jason warned him that he had until December 01 to withdraw his CAFGU commission or he and his family would be killed.

On October 29, 2010 in Barabgay Langgawesan, Maragusan, ComVal, 2 off duty CAFGU soldiers, Rey Ciba and Panpilo Lupogan were both at home with their families when a group of NPA guerillas entered each home and tied their arms behind their backs. Prodding them with the stocks of their rifles they were marched to the home of Junior Lagungan of that barangay's Sitio Hanginan. Waiting inside the home was a female guerilla who identified herself as "Ka Jen Jen" who ordered both soldiers to resign their CAFGU commissions immediately lest she execute a 3rd CAFGU soldier from their detachment as a "lesson,"