In my most recent NPA entry I discussed the acceleration of NPA Tactical Offencives that always takes place during the interim period between the announcement of their annual,unilaterally declared holiday season ceasefire and its commencement.I mentioned that the weeks during that short window are usually extra bloody.The bad news of course is that I was correct,people died and were otherwise maimed.The good news,if there can indeed be any good news when non-combatants lose their lives,is that none of it took place here on Mindanao.
The AFP has screamed to anyone willing to listen that the engagement in Las Navas,Northern Samar Province, Samar Island, on Tuesday, December 14,2010 was a blatant violation of that afore mentioned ceasefire,despite the ceasefire not beginning until Thursday,December 16.A 12 man detachment from the 63IB (Infantry Battalion) was en route to its garrison when ambushed by the NPA .Of the 12 men,10 died almost immediately from the IED (Improvised Explosive Device, i.e. "Bomb") which precipitated the by the books ambush while the 2 survivors were badly wounded. Perhaps the saddest part is that a 9 year old boy was also killed.The boy,Joven Cabe,died from shrapnel generated by the IED.The NPA captured 10 M16s,every weapon in that detachnent.
0n December 10,just 4 days before this ambush the NPA ambushed a pump boat (local type of small inter-island ferrying craft) with a detachment of 6 soldiers aboard from the 83rd CMOU (Civil-Military Operations Unit) who boarded in Barangay Poblacion and were en route to Barangay Poponton. After the craft had just crossed the border of Barangays Taylor and Victory along the Hinaga River it was ambushed by the NPA. 5 soldiers immediately dived into the river as civilian passengers aboard the small craft took the brunt of the attack.2 of those non-combatants were killed,1 of which,Edward Gugdad,was a 15 year old young man.
In July the AFP proudly announced that pacification of Northern Samar was rolling right along and recommemded that the provincial government launch a tourism campaign.Less than a month later,on August 21,2010,the NPA slaughtered an 8 man PNP (Philippine National Police) detachment.As a rule I only discuss Mindanao but the last attack on Samar,2 days prior to commencement of the ceasefire,became a major issue with regard to AFP Propaganda that accuses the NPA of"violating"a ceasefire that IT conceived and implemented.
Although nobody was killed on Mindanao during the interim,the NPA here was by no means dormant (and neither was the AFP). On the same day that those 10 soldiers in Northern Samar were killed,Tuesday,December 14,the NPA again dressed in AFP uniforms and by subterfuge,and without firing a shot,were able to capture 2 M16s, 2 pump shotguns and 2 45 pistols.Clad in their army fatigues the 30 guerillas made their way to Barangay San Ignacio in Manay,Davao Oriental Province.Approaching an IFM (Integrated Forest Management) office the disguised guerillas managed to wrangle a truck.Using the truck they made their way to Barangay Old Macopa in that same town and split into 2 smaller detachments and then approached the home of Barangay Captain Romeo Antoling.Upon their arrival at the Antoling home the guerillas announced that their detachment was on a Hot Pursuit Operation in search of an NPA detachment.Simultaneously,the 2nd NPA detachment did the very same thing at the home of the Barangay Captain's son,Romeo Antoling Jr.,who lost 1 40 caliber pistol and two 12 gauge shotguns.
Romeo Antoling Sr.is lucky not to have been executed given his personal history.On June 13, 2010 Antoling Sr.had invited local radio commentator Desidario "Jessie" Camangyan to emcee a barangay kareoke contest.At 11PM that evening as the finalists were giving it their all his live-in girlfriend (the Philippines does not recognise Common Law Marriage) was holding their baby and watched in horror as a man stepped out of the crowd,raised his 45 caliber pistol and shot Jess to death.
At a meeting about the death days later at the Manay town hall, his grieving lover looked up as the municipality's PNP (Philippine National Police) officers entered the room to update the gathering on the nascent investigation.All of a sudden a shriek pierced the room as she became hysterical.When she had sufficiently re-gained her composure she pointed to 1 of the PNP officers,PO1 Dennis"Jess"Esteban Lumikid and said that he was the killer she had personally witnessed.The deceased radio commentator had been critical of both illegal logging and illegal gambling and Antoling Sr.,who has his own small paramilitary to protect his illegal logging operation,decided to silence the 52 year old broadcaster.Knowing that the deceased was in dire straits since his station,"Sunshine FM,"in the neighbouring town of Mati placed him on hiatus,he offered him 3,000 Pesos for a nights works ($70,half a months pay for a labourer) along with a pump shotgun (aaaaaah, "guns and Mindanao," I think it would make a bloody good tourism slogan).
Officer Lumikid was formally charged on July 05,2010 by a dedicated (in the sense that they were especially empanelled to investigate only this case) task force but had been detained since June 23 when the investigatory panel,Task Force Camangyan,initially filed the charges with the Davao Oriental Provincial Prosecutor.Since June 23rd he had been kept in the custody of his superiors at PNP Provincial Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit (where he had been transferred since June 24).Antoling was charged by the Task Force on that same day, June 23rd.On November 10, 2010,Lumikid was finally arraigned but Antoling had his charges dismissed for lack of evidence,at the end of August.
Ergo, having your weapons stolen instead of being shot to death for being the loser you are COULD be seen as a stroke of luck.Just depends on perspective I guess.
The love affair between Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Davao City and Leonicio"Ka Parago"Pitao,CO (Commanding Officer) of the NPA's Merardo Arce Command continues this holiday season.As I had written in at least one recent NPA-themed entry, Duterte and his daughter,Mayor Sarah"Inday"Duterte Carpio have been whispering sweet nothings to Ka Parago as they practically beg the guerilla leader to come out of the mountains and enjoy Xmas in the city.Parago of course refused the kind offer and instead invited both father AND daughter up to his mountain lair.Sunday,December 26 will mark the 42nd Anniversary of the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines) and all NPA Regional Commands hold large gatherings.The 2 strongest Regional Commands,NEMR (North East Mindanao Region) and Parago's,SMR (Southern Mindanao Region) have the largest of these get-togethers.Indeed,on December 20th as Vice Mayor Duterte ordered Davao City PNP not to arrest Parago,et al the Vice Mayor announced he WOULD in fact be going to Parago's camp to be spending at least a part of the Xmas holiday.
Speaking of Ka Parago's Merardo Arce Command,on December 17,1 day after the ceasefire began,the NPA was forced to very quickly re-position itself when the 1003Bde (Brigade) began heavy troop movements as it Forward Deployed in Davao City's Paquibato District.The AFP is feigning innocence,claiming it was NOT a tactical deployment at all but rather a large logistical shift to ready the district for CMO/PDT actions (Civil-Military Operations such as medical outreaches and the cobstruction of school buildings,and of course the latest Hearts and Minds weapon,"Peace and Development Teams".PDTs as they are called in military shorthand are day-to-day CMO liasons and actors who spend weeks in a given barangay.On the other hand,CMO elements rarely spend a single week in 1 locale).
Parago is on everbody's mind these days...On Friday,December 17,2010,Sheriff Abe Andress told a Davao City Court that try as he might,he just could not find Parago's camp (riiiight, as if he even entered an NPA held district).Sheriff Andress had been"looking"to serve a subpoena to Ka Parago over a Writ of Amparo filed by local woman,Juanita Gomez.Juanita's husband,Jerry Gomez,had been selling ice cream for 4 years in an NPA controlled area when Merardo Arce Command's PBC1 (Pulang Bagani Command #1, the company sized element that Parago personally comands) abducted him in late August,2010.A Writ of Amparo is designed to offer families relief in cases of enforced disappearances.Primarily designed to be utilised by people having good cause to believe the GOVERNMENT has abducted a loved one,the Writ,if granted by a court,compels the entity so charged to produce the missing person post haste.It can also be utilised by the family to gain protection from retaliatory intimidation and/or violence.To my knowledge this is the first attempted utilisation of a Writ of Amparo against a non-governmental entity.Ms.Gomez says she received a phone call on December 01,from the NPA telling her not to worry,that her husband is OK and will be returning home shortly.
That same day,December 17,one day after the ceasefire began,a joint AFP/PNP checkpoint in Barangay Pili,Bayugan,Agusan del Sur Province,a car carrying 5 men was flagged for inspection and searched.Upon identifying the 5 men in the vehicle it was discovered that all 5 were NPA guerillas from NCMR (North Central Mindanao Region).1 of the 5 is a High Value Target, 67 year old Pedro"Ka Gonyong"Codaste.Codaste was en route to Butuan City in Agusan del Norte Province to spend Xmas with his family.Codaste was nabbed on a Warrant out of Regional Trial Court,Branch 8,in Malaybalay City,Bukidnon Province.The charges,Multiple Murder and Frustrated Multiple Murder,stem from tactical operations.The NPA,CPP and NDF (National Democratic Front) each condemned the arrests,especially Codaste's,as a violation of the ceasefire.The AFP maintains that since he had a Warrant it was an act of Law Enforcement.By the end of he week the NDF claimed Codaste was a member of the NDF negotiating team though they didn't specify as to when he joined that effort (seeing as how his name has never appeared on any NDF lists submitted to either GRP OR Norway,the Facilitating Nation.The claim of an arrestee being from either the NPA OR CPP belongs to the NDF Peace Process is extremely relevant since any person belonging is automatically imbued with immunity from arrest,detention and prosecution.
On December 18,2010 an ex-NPA guerilla who withdrew from the movement in 2006 was shot to death by a SPARU (Special Partisan Armed Revolutionary Unit,3 to 5 person assasination squads) for being an IS-AFP (AFP Intelligence) asset.Randy Acao Umpo,a farmer,was alone and listening to the radio at his home in Sitio Mamaon,Barangay Sibula,Toril District,Davao City when shot on the right side of his chest and died instantly.Ironically he had belonged to a SPARU Team himself.
Showing posts with label Ka Parago. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ka Parago. Show all posts
Friday, December 24, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
The Annual NPA Dog and Pony Show
Here on our tropical isle of Mindanao some might think that we aren't as blessed as many Westerners are when it comes to the Xmas Season. Those living in colder climes for example, can very easily make do without their calendars and simply observe the changing colours of the leaves, or fill the air grow nippier. No, we may not be able to enjoy THOSE seasonal changes but we likewise have some peculiarly all our own. When one hears the NPA announce a Ceasefire they can fire up that jeepney and race to Swiss Market for some eggnog because you can bet a plethora of Pesos that its time for old Saint Nick to make his presence known. Those that are in the know however will always wait fir the Ceasefire to commence before rushing anywhere since the days leading up to the implementation of the Ceasefire are always the bloodiest of the preceeding year.
Speaking of "implementation," when will this year's quiet time begin? On December 07th the NPA unilaterally announced that this year's Xmas Ceasefire will begin at 6AM, on December 16th and will last (one hopes) until January 03rd. The date of commencement was by no means arbitrary in that December 16th marks the beginning of the Philippine Xmas Season. The duration of 17 days makes the 2010 Ceasefire the longest in a decade. Again, not an arbitrary fact given the fact that almost immediately after the end of the cessation the resumption of the long stalled GRP-NDF Peace Process takes place in Oslo, Norway.
The Ceasefire Announcement took place after a fortuitous week for the NPA and its political facet, the CPP (Communist Party of the Phillipines). On December 01 and 02 in Hong Kong, long time Chairperson of the NDF Peace Panel, Luis Jalandoni met with his GRP counterpart, Alexander "Alex" Padilla in an informal tet a tet. Also present was Jalandoni's wife and #2 on the NDF Panel, Coni Ledesma. Joining Padilla was GRP Panel member Pablito Sanidad and both sides were joined by attorney Rachel Pastores who is consulting for the overall Peace Process. As was expected both Padilla and Jalandoni got along quite well and dates for both Informal Talks (January 14 through January 18) and the First Round of Formal Talks (February 19 through February 25) were tenatively agreed upon pending formal approval by their respective entities.
During their 2 day meeting in Hong Kong Padilla formally handed Jalandoni a copy of the HDO (Hold Departure Order) had been in effect with GRP's Bureau of Immigration since June 29, 1992. HDOs are issued by the DOJ (Department of Justice) and enforced by the Bureau of Immigration when a targeted individual attempts to leave via a commercial flight. Prior to leaving Manila Padilla had been instructed to hand over the official notification by Malacanang's Chief Counsel Ricardo Paras III. In addition, Padilla also handed Jalandoni an official notification that JASIG (Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees) was still viable. JASIG was a product of a 1995 Round in the Peace Process. It allows for NDF Panel members and other NDF members closely involved in the Process to freely enter and leave the Philippimes as well as to remain unmolested during visits. JASIG had been suspended by former-President Arroyo during the 2004 meltdown following the US and EU classification of the CPP-NPA as "Terrorist Organisations." President Arroyo had lobbied hard for the groups' inclusion in an irrational bout of egotism. Her theatrics then derailed the Process until the present.
JASIG is an extremely relevant issue for the entire NDF but more so for Jalandoni on a personal level given that his aged mother, still in tje Philippines, is quite ill. Jalandoni had wanted to visit his mother for perhaps the last time but the questuin of JASIG's viability loomed large. Jalandoni et al had been informed that President Arroyo had actually lifted her own Suspension Order on July 17, 2009 but without an official notification that fact didn't mean much. On December 04, official notifications in hand, Jalandoni and his wife arrived in Manila aboard a Cathay Pacific flight out of Hong Kong.
As I mentioned, the days leading up to the annual Xmas Ceasefires are inevitably filled with the blood and gore of increasingly bold tactically offencive operations. Case in point? Ka Parago's evening visit to the CAFGU post in Davao City's Barangay Mapula. The post is located in the city's Paquibato District, 1 of 4 city districts in which former Mayor (and current Vice Mayor under his daughter Sarah Duterte Carpio) Rodrigo "Roddy" Duterte had given the NPA free reign.
When Vice Mayor Duterte was stlll a Davao City Prosecutor he had come to a working arrangement with the Maoists.
By 1984, not long after Ka Parago had moved his family from Laak in Davao del Norte Province (the town is now within Compostela Valley Province, aka ComVal, the province later carved out of the northwest corner of Davao del Norte) to the coastal bsrangay of Isla Verde in Davao City the NPA was so deeply ensconced in the poorer barangays that ring Mindanao's largest city that authorities all but conceeded it as NPA territory. From 1979 until that point the organisation had been exponentially all over the Central and Southern Philippines. As so often happens in such situations this uber-rapid expansion severely weakened the NPA's ideological foundation. Forget about Mao, most NPA regulars of the era had no idea who Marx was (granted that today that things have not progressed all that much).
As with any base of power people were joining the NPA for a variety of reasons and virtually none of them were good. Among them were a group of petty criminals in the city's Agado District, an area encompassing some of the city's most depressed barangays.By mid-1984 the NPA began cleaning house, deploying SPARU Teams (Special Partisan Armed Revolutionary Units, often mis transliterated as "Sparrow") to publicly murder NPA members that ran afoul of their hierarchy (in addition to the assasinations of PNP, government officials, informers and non-combatants the group erroneously marked as informers). As SPARU operations became much more frequent elements like those petty criminals abandoned ship. Knowing that withdrawing from the NPA not only did nothing to alleviate their vulnerability but actually made them much more probable targets they banded together and formed an anti-NPA organisation called "Alsa Masa" (Masses Arise).
A lot has been said, erroneously, about Vice Mayor Duterte's suuport of Alsa Masa. Indeed it is claimed often enough that he led the organisation! Duterte did reluctantly develop a working relationship with the group after intially targetting them for prosecution. He really did not have a choice in the matter after the AFP officially sanctioned the group as an integral cog in its Force Multiplication scheme in the Davao Region. By the time the late President Corazon Aquino came to town amd vowed to support Alsa Masa in a nationally televised speech Duterte had long been in bed with the group.
Alsa Masa was the tip of the iceberg in the AFP's anti-Communist Force Multiplication so that by the start of 1989 the NPA was relegated to the city's hinterlands, where it has remained ensconced ever since. The afore mentioned 4 NPA controoled districts, Paquibato, Tugbok, Marilog and Toril (Calinan and Baguio also have a moderate presence if not used tactically), have been consigned to the NPA with understanding that they will refrain from re-entering (or entering as the case may be) the city's other districts. One could say Duterte has merely been a pragmatist but others (the brave and the few) say a lot worse.
The AFP almost always refrains from publicly commenting on Duterte's self-described "Back Door Policy" (aaaah, is THAT what they are calling it these days?) though that nearly changed when current Mayor Sarah Duterte Carpio actually crossed the line and withdrew the city's support for AFP operations within the city's borders.Following through on a threat her father had been making for years Carpio severed municipal support while accusing the AFP of disregard for non-combatants in those 4 NPA controlled districts. The 2 sides have since made uo with Carpio giving the keynote speech at the Commencement Ceremony for a
P and D Mission (Peace and Development, civic oriented projects such as infrastructural improvements or MEDCAPS, aka medical and dental fairs...though in this case the operation merely involved the recently arrived 84 Infantry Battalion doing a house by house census in Toril District). In her speech Carpio lauded the non-combative nature of the current operation and pledged Davao City's assistance.
When one mentions the NPA and Davao City in the same sentence it is a fair assumption that Leonicio "Ka Parago" Pitao's name will soon be following. Pitao is the CO (Commanding Officer) of the Merardo Arce Command, a battalion sized entity that while primarily operating within the 4 districts I mentioned also inclucludes Davao del Sur (the province in which Davao City sits) as well as parts of Davao del Norte and Davao Oriental Provinces. Comprised of 5 COYs (Companies, a "COY" generally contains 90 to 110 riflemen) of which only 4 are currently operational. Of these COYs, Pulang Bagani Company 1 through 5 (Red Warriors Company 1 through 5), Pitao personally commands Coy 1. Known as Pulang Bagani Company 1, or PBC1, it perhaps the best equipped of all NPA elements on Mindanao, if not the entire nation.
In a long and often brutal relationship the AFP hace. Been at each others' throats. Aside from capturing him at his family home after his sister Evelyn tipped authorities, he has never been caught and this fact cause an extreme amount of consternation. The capture I just mentioned took place almost immediatel after PBC1 released s Brigadier General it captured along with other AFP personnel. That capture was an amazing propaganda coup for the Communist and so it really msade Pitao the highest value target. In the end he spent just over a year incarcerated before being freed sans pre-conditions as President Estrada sought to jumpstart the GRP-NDF Peace Process.
From 2000 onwards Pitao loomed extremely large in AFP sights.
In June of 2008 Pitao's younger brother Danilo was abducted and summarily executed. Unlike his older brother Danilo not only stayed on the right side of the law but actually worked as a Provincial Guard in the Davao del Norte Provincial Capitol Complex in Tagum City. With a sister turned informer and a brother murdered, both because of his role in the insurgency Pitao might have re-thought his long involvement with the organisation...but in fact it seems to have only strengthened his resolve.
After a series of stunning tactical operations in early 2009, Pitao's youngest daughter, Rebelyn "Ivy" Maasin Pitao was kidnnapped as she returned to the family's home in Bago Gallera in Davao City. Found the next day,in Davao del Norte Province, her corpse half naked, physically tortured (including sexually), the 20 year old paid the highest price for her father's membership in the NPA. The AFP denied all involvement but despite its initial reluctance to do so, opened an internal investigation into the matter. Predicting correctly that the military would do nothing the NPA conducted its own investigation and pointed the finger at an AFP Intelligence detachment ensconced in the town of Carmen, Davao del Norte Province and even listed involved personnel by name. After placing the personnel on Restriction to Barracks for almost 3 months the investigation was swept under the rug...though the NPA deployed SPARU Teams who killed a number of the listed men.
Fast forward to December 10, 2010 and Leonicio "Ka Parago" Pitao's PBC1 abducted the Barangay Captain of Barangay Mapula and a well known local datu (tribal chief) and while wearing AFP uniforms had the Barangay Captain and datuaccompany them to the Barangay Mapula's CAFGU (Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit), an official paramilitary under direct supervision of the AFP) post. Using the Barangay Captain and datu to infiltrate the post compound. Once inside they disarmed all personnel and made off with a nice haul. I am sure that they will look great under the tree...
Not a single shot fired, Ka Parago strikes again.
Speaking of "implementation," when will this year's quiet time begin? On December 07th the NPA unilaterally announced that this year's Xmas Ceasefire will begin at 6AM, on December 16th and will last (one hopes) until January 03rd. The date of commencement was by no means arbitrary in that December 16th marks the beginning of the Philippine Xmas Season. The duration of 17 days makes the 2010 Ceasefire the longest in a decade. Again, not an arbitrary fact given the fact that almost immediately after the end of the cessation the resumption of the long stalled GRP-NDF Peace Process takes place in Oslo, Norway.
The Ceasefire Announcement took place after a fortuitous week for the NPA and its political facet, the CPP (Communist Party of the Phillipines). On December 01 and 02 in Hong Kong, long time Chairperson of the NDF Peace Panel, Luis Jalandoni met with his GRP counterpart, Alexander "Alex" Padilla in an informal tet a tet. Also present was Jalandoni's wife and #2 on the NDF Panel, Coni Ledesma. Joining Padilla was GRP Panel member Pablito Sanidad and both sides were joined by attorney Rachel Pastores who is consulting for the overall Peace Process. As was expected both Padilla and Jalandoni got along quite well and dates for both Informal Talks (January 14 through January 18) and the First Round of Formal Talks (February 19 through February 25) were tenatively agreed upon pending formal approval by their respective entities.
During their 2 day meeting in Hong Kong Padilla formally handed Jalandoni a copy of the HDO (Hold Departure Order) had been in effect with GRP's Bureau of Immigration since June 29, 1992. HDOs are issued by the DOJ (Department of Justice) and enforced by the Bureau of Immigration when a targeted individual attempts to leave via a commercial flight. Prior to leaving Manila Padilla had been instructed to hand over the official notification by Malacanang's Chief Counsel Ricardo Paras III. In addition, Padilla also handed Jalandoni an official notification that JASIG (Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees) was still viable. JASIG was a product of a 1995 Round in the Peace Process. It allows for NDF Panel members and other NDF members closely involved in the Process to freely enter and leave the Philippimes as well as to remain unmolested during visits. JASIG had been suspended by former-President Arroyo during the 2004 meltdown following the US and EU classification of the CPP-NPA as "Terrorist Organisations." President Arroyo had lobbied hard for the groups' inclusion in an irrational bout of egotism. Her theatrics then derailed the Process until the present.
JASIG is an extremely relevant issue for the entire NDF but more so for Jalandoni on a personal level given that his aged mother, still in tje Philippines, is quite ill. Jalandoni had wanted to visit his mother for perhaps the last time but the questuin of JASIG's viability loomed large. Jalandoni et al had been informed that President Arroyo had actually lifted her own Suspension Order on July 17, 2009 but without an official notification that fact didn't mean much. On December 04, official notifications in hand, Jalandoni and his wife arrived in Manila aboard a Cathay Pacific flight out of Hong Kong.
As I mentioned, the days leading up to the annual Xmas Ceasefires are inevitably filled with the blood and gore of increasingly bold tactically offencive operations. Case in point? Ka Parago's evening visit to the CAFGU post in Davao City's Barangay Mapula. The post is located in the city's Paquibato District, 1 of 4 city districts in which former Mayor (and current Vice Mayor under his daughter Sarah Duterte Carpio) Rodrigo "Roddy" Duterte had given the NPA free reign.
When Vice Mayor Duterte was stlll a Davao City Prosecutor he had come to a working arrangement with the Maoists.
By 1984, not long after Ka Parago had moved his family from Laak in Davao del Norte Province (the town is now within Compostela Valley Province, aka ComVal, the province later carved out of the northwest corner of Davao del Norte) to the coastal bsrangay of Isla Verde in Davao City the NPA was so deeply ensconced in the poorer barangays that ring Mindanao's largest city that authorities all but conceeded it as NPA territory. From 1979 until that point the organisation had been exponentially all over the Central and Southern Philippines. As so often happens in such situations this uber-rapid expansion severely weakened the NPA's ideological foundation. Forget about Mao, most NPA regulars of the era had no idea who Marx was (granted that today that things have not progressed all that much).
As with any base of power people were joining the NPA for a variety of reasons and virtually none of them were good. Among them were a group of petty criminals in the city's Agado District, an area encompassing some of the city's most depressed barangays.By mid-1984 the NPA began cleaning house, deploying SPARU Teams (Special Partisan Armed Revolutionary Units, often mis transliterated as "Sparrow") to publicly murder NPA members that ran afoul of their hierarchy (in addition to the assasinations of PNP, government officials, informers and non-combatants the group erroneously marked as informers). As SPARU operations became much more frequent elements like those petty criminals abandoned ship. Knowing that withdrawing from the NPA not only did nothing to alleviate their vulnerability but actually made them much more probable targets they banded together and formed an anti-NPA organisation called "Alsa Masa" (Masses Arise).
A lot has been said, erroneously, about Vice Mayor Duterte's suuport of Alsa Masa. Indeed it is claimed often enough that he led the organisation! Duterte did reluctantly develop a working relationship with the group after intially targetting them for prosecution. He really did not have a choice in the matter after the AFP officially sanctioned the group as an integral cog in its Force Multiplication scheme in the Davao Region. By the time the late President Corazon Aquino came to town amd vowed to support Alsa Masa in a nationally televised speech Duterte had long been in bed with the group.
Alsa Masa was the tip of the iceberg in the AFP's anti-Communist Force Multiplication so that by the start of 1989 the NPA was relegated to the city's hinterlands, where it has remained ensconced ever since. The afore mentioned 4 NPA controoled districts, Paquibato, Tugbok, Marilog and Toril (Calinan and Baguio also have a moderate presence if not used tactically), have been consigned to the NPA with understanding that they will refrain from re-entering (or entering as the case may be) the city's other districts. One could say Duterte has merely been a pragmatist but others (the brave and the few) say a lot worse.
The AFP almost always refrains from publicly commenting on Duterte's self-described "Back Door Policy" (aaaah, is THAT what they are calling it these days?) though that nearly changed when current Mayor Sarah Duterte Carpio actually crossed the line and withdrew the city's support for AFP operations within the city's borders.Following through on a threat her father had been making for years Carpio severed municipal support while accusing the AFP of disregard for non-combatants in those 4 NPA controlled districts. The 2 sides have since made uo with Carpio giving the keynote speech at the Commencement Ceremony for a
P and D Mission (Peace and Development, civic oriented projects such as infrastructural improvements or MEDCAPS, aka medical and dental fairs...though in this case the operation merely involved the recently arrived 84 Infantry Battalion doing a house by house census in Toril District). In her speech Carpio lauded the non-combative nature of the current operation and pledged Davao City's assistance.
When one mentions the NPA and Davao City in the same sentence it is a fair assumption that Leonicio "Ka Parago" Pitao's name will soon be following. Pitao is the CO (Commanding Officer) of the Merardo Arce Command, a battalion sized entity that while primarily operating within the 4 districts I mentioned also inclucludes Davao del Sur (the province in which Davao City sits) as well as parts of Davao del Norte and Davao Oriental Provinces. Comprised of 5 COYs (Companies, a "COY" generally contains 90 to 110 riflemen) of which only 4 are currently operational. Of these COYs, Pulang Bagani Company 1 through 5 (Red Warriors Company 1 through 5), Pitao personally commands Coy 1. Known as Pulang Bagani Company 1, or PBC1, it perhaps the best equipped of all NPA elements on Mindanao, if not the entire nation.
In a long and often brutal relationship the AFP hace. Been at each others' throats. Aside from capturing him at his family home after his sister Evelyn tipped authorities, he has never been caught and this fact cause an extreme amount of consternation. The capture I just mentioned took place almost immediatel after PBC1 released s Brigadier General it captured along with other AFP personnel. That capture was an amazing propaganda coup for the Communist and so it really msade Pitao the highest value target. In the end he spent just over a year incarcerated before being freed sans pre-conditions as President Estrada sought to jumpstart the GRP-NDF Peace Process.
From 2000 onwards Pitao loomed extremely large in AFP sights.
In June of 2008 Pitao's younger brother Danilo was abducted and summarily executed. Unlike his older brother Danilo not only stayed on the right side of the law but actually worked as a Provincial Guard in the Davao del Norte Provincial Capitol Complex in Tagum City. With a sister turned informer and a brother murdered, both because of his role in the insurgency Pitao might have re-thought his long involvement with the organisation...but in fact it seems to have only strengthened his resolve.
After a series of stunning tactical operations in early 2009, Pitao's youngest daughter, Rebelyn "Ivy" Maasin Pitao was kidnnapped as she returned to the family's home in Bago Gallera in Davao City. Found the next day,in Davao del Norte Province, her corpse half naked, physically tortured (including sexually), the 20 year old paid the highest price for her father's membership in the NPA. The AFP denied all involvement but despite its initial reluctance to do so, opened an internal investigation into the matter. Predicting correctly that the military would do nothing the NPA conducted its own investigation and pointed the finger at an AFP Intelligence detachment ensconced in the town of Carmen, Davao del Norte Province and even listed involved personnel by name. After placing the personnel on Restriction to Barracks for almost 3 months the investigation was swept under the rug...though the NPA deployed SPARU Teams who killed a number of the listed men.
Fast forward to December 10, 2010 and Leonicio "Ka Parago" Pitao's PBC1 abducted the Barangay Captain of Barangay Mapula and a well known local datu (tribal chief) and while wearing AFP uniforms had the Barangay Captain and datuaccompany them to the Barangay Mapula's CAFGU (Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit), an official paramilitary under direct supervision of the AFP) post. Using the Barangay Captain and datu to infiltrate the post compound. Once inside they disarmed all personnel and made off with a nice haul. I am sure that they will look great under the tree...
Not a single shot fired, Ka Parago strikes again.
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