September 21st has been christened the "International Day of Peace" by everybody's favourite hypocritical windbag, the UN. Yes, the United Nations, the organisation that when it finds itself not busy playing games with Iraqi oil vouchers or running child sex rings in Sub-Sahara Africa sees fit to clog calendars with more ignorantly declared "holidays." I am ALL for "peace' and were it at all up to me I would make every day a "Day of Peace" but alas, I am nowhere as lofty and noble an entity as the holy UN and therefore poor, pitiful me is relegated with reporting just how that beautifuly named day was commemorated on our fair isle of Mindanao.
The AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines, loftily declared that it would take part in the spirit of the declaration and issued a SOMA slash SOMO, or Stop of Military Action and Stop of Military Operations. In other words, the AFP declared a uni-lateral one day cease fire.
How did the CPP/NPA/NDFP reciprocate?
On September 20th, 2011, Private First Class Ronel Mansiwagan asked his superior for a One Day Leave for himself and a fellow Ata-Manobo Lumad, CAA Ortega Carian, having just found out that his cousin was getting married the following morning in the nearby suburb of Panabo City in the neighbouring province of Davao del Norte. Private First Class Mansiwagan served in the 72IB (Infantry Battalion) and was deployed as the Executive Cadre of the Bagani Long Range Platoon CAFGU. CAFGU, or Civilian Auxiliary Force Geographical Unit is a geographically fixed atmed reserve unit that serves as the cornerstone of the AFP's COIN (Counterinsurgency) programme. Although technically labeled as CAfGU the Bagani Long Range Platoon is a breed apart. Part of the AFP's little known protocol, OPlan Alsa Lumad (Operational Plan Hilltribes Arise), under the last ISP, or Internal Security Plan, OPlan Bantay Laya II (Operational Plan Protecting the Land II). Like all CAFGU detachments the Bagani are commanded by an AFP cadre, always an NCO, or Non-Commisioned Officer (a Corporal or a Sergeant). Rarely an AFP Cadre will be assigned an Enlisted Man (Private) to serve as his EXO, or Executive Officer, or in this case, Ezecutive Cadre (Assistant Commander). In this particular detachment, the Bagani Long Range Platoon, its garrison consists of twenty "nipas" (bamboo framed palm leaf thatched huts) so that one can easily appreciate just why this detachment had been given an EXO (most CAFGU detachments have less than 20 men on post at any given time).
The next morning, September 21st, 2011, the UN's "International Day of Peace," Private First Class Mansiwagan and CAA Ortega Carian climbed aboard Carian's motorcycle and left their garrison in Paquibato District's Sitio Damilag at 6AM and made their way in plain clothes to rendevouz with family and friends for the short drive out to Panabo City. By all accounts the wedding went well and the two men enjoyed their one day's leave and made the most of the time at hand . At 3PM the two left heading straigt back into Davao City.
At 740PM the Commanding Officer received a phone call from a civilian asset living in Barangay Upper Mapula. Still distraught the caller explained that he was passing through an NPA checkpoint when he witnessed Private First Class Mansiwagan and CAA Carian pulling up to it on Carian's motorcycle. Almost immediately the NPA guerillas manning the checkpoint, from Front 52, the Amoran Saripada Command, the Operational Command of the Southern Mindanao Regional Committee, recognised both men despite their having worn civilian clothes. Even with the men going out of uniform both carried their sidearms, 45 caliber pistols. The guerillas very brusquely demanded any weapons the men might be carrying. As other guerillas proceeded to search the two CAA Carian stupidly tried to run through the checkpoint and escape. That impetuous decision ended up costing both men their lives.
The caller informed the AFP Cadre that both mens' bodies had been left where they fell in Barangay Upper Mapula's Purok #5. Thanking him the Cadre hung up and immediately notified his superior at the 72IB's headquarters. The Commanding instructed the Cadre to wait until daybreak before retrieving the bodies so as to avoid the highly probable NPA ambush. At 4AM a column from the garrison retrieved both mens' bodies.
Showing posts with label Merardo Arce Command. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Merardo Arce Command. Show all posts
Friday, October 21, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
NPA Armed Contacts,Second Quarter of 2011,Part III:More Misery in Pantukan
In two recent "Development Aggression" entries I covered both the Good Friday Landslide in the municipality of Pantukan in ComVal (Compostela Valley Province) as well as the subsequent issues with the American-based multi-national that is attempting to mine there, Russell Mining. Pantukan is like so many of the communities in the Diwata Mountain Range. Blessed with almost unimaginable beauty they are simultaneously cursed with an over-abundance of natural resources. Some might be scratching their heads, wondering just how there can ever be an "over-abundance" of natural resources...
To digress for a moment,if one were to poll laymen and ask them what the number one cause of war and conflict has been throughout the history of man they would more than likely say, "Religion." Of course that seems like a fair answer but it is absolutely incorrect. The cause of almost every single conflict that has wracked this planet has been natural resources,or to be specific, control of those natural resources. Religion is sometimes used as the ideological vehicle but it isn't the actual impetus.
Segueing back to the Diwata Mountains...Gold more often than not brings only misery. It attracts the worst of humanity. Huge communities spring up around its source and for a brief while there is hope. Yet anywhere one finds fast money they also will find people who aim to live like parasites, off of the good fortune of others. Pimps,drug dealers...Corruption abounds, from those sworn to protect like the AFP and PNP (Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police) to those sworn to serve their communities in other ways, like politicians and civil servants.
Seeing vulnerable,ill communities insurgents are drawn to such places as centres of gravity, or ground zero in that particular dynamic. The NPA,or New People's Army, is drawn to such places for several reasons. The top two reasons are equally important; first, boom towns present a myriad of funding possibilities. "Revolutionary Taxes" are little more than Protection Rackets that target a vulnerable demographic. Living amongst a corrupt security apparattus what can a targetted business man or company really do? There is no choice but to pay up and pay they do. The average rate of "Taxation" for a multi-national corporation mining the Diwata Mountains averages a neat P1 Million ($22,000) PER MONTH. The NPA loves to tell anyone who listens that they are battling against foreign-based corporations who aim to siphon off the nation's patrimony as the poor Lumad (generic term applied to all Animist Hilltribes on Mindanao) are lucky if they even net 2 or 3 years of backbreaking labour at not much above the minimum wage.
The truth of the matter is that the NPA wants these multi-national bloodsuckers working these hills just as bad as the Government sitting in Manila does. Both are just as greedy and both have exactly the same endgame, control of the central axis of power and to gain this, or in the Government's case to retain this, they need money, lots of money.
The second reason is that the multi-nationals are a large cog in the dynamic that creates these battered mountain communities. What better pool of recruits could the NPA ever hope for? Let's see...on one hand you have an existence of pathetic misery with a life expectancy of 47 years with 1 meal a day of white rice and Bitter Melon (Ampalaya)...or a life as a guerilla where you are led to believe you are working to help create a world where everyone will have enough to eat and enough money to live. Naturally the life of a gueriila is many more times attractive and this is why the bast bulk of the NPA's forces on Mindanao are Lumad.
On May 4th, 2011 in Pantukan's Barangay Tibagon three columns from the 71IB (Infantry Battalion) were on patrol when they walked right into an NPA ambush courtesy of Front 2, the Crucifino Uballas Command. As is so often the case it began with an IED (Improvised Explosive Device,as in "bomb") that immediately killed the soldier on point (the soldier walking at the lead of one of the columns). In the 55 minute long firefight that followed 2 more soldiers were critically wounded. The AFP, trying as always to use its scraps for propaganda value claimed that the heartless NPA senselessly attacked an AFP element as it engaged in Search and Rescue Operations relating to that aforementioned Good Friday Landslide. Uh,guys? The landslide was in Barangay Kingking, the soldiers in this contact were in Barangay Tibagon. More over, Search and Rescue Operations ended 2 days earlier and don't involve three columned formations. People DO pay attention to the facts so the AFP should at least try to spin its dirtywork intelligently.
Speaking of Barangay Kingking though...On May 12th in that barangay's Sitio Maplog,near the border of Sitio Lawa'an the NPA's 3rd Pulang Bagani (Red Warrior) Company of the Merardo Arce Command (SMRC,as in Southern Mindanao Regional Committee) implemented an impromptu checkpoint.Shortly thereafter 4 motorcycles were stopped. All 4 were driven by SCAA soldiers employed by Saint Augustine Copper and Gold. Saint Augustine is a joint venture that serves as the aforementioned Russell Mining and its local partner NADECOR's (National Development Corporation) local operating entity. Philippine Laws require all foreign owned companies to engage a local partner in sn advantageous 60:40 split, in favour of the locally owned company. To try and maximise this disadvantageous relationship a multi-national will sometimes create a local operating entity,hence Saint Augustine.
On the morning in question a company geologist was on his way to examine a test hole.SCAA,or Special Citizens Active Auxiliary, is 1 of the 4 CAA (Citizens Active Auxiliaries) entities used by the AFP as the cornerstone of its Counterinsurgency Programe. While many Filipinos are quite familiar with another of the CAA entities,the CAFGU,or Citizens Active Geographical Force Unit, the SCAA remains a mystery to most.The are privately funded by business owners but trained and equipped by the AFP.While CAFGU will almost always have extremely old M1s (Garand 30 caliber) the SCAA almost always carries AFP quality weaponry (not that the AFP has anything really effective). Because CAAs on average have but 45 days of extremely minimal training and tend to carry AFP quality weaponry they are a primary target of NPA tactical assaults.
As the 4 motorcycles neared the checkpoint,with the geologist riding tandem on one,they realised too late that they were trapped.One SCAA soldier immediately dumped his bike and ran off into the jungle.A second,CAA Casiano,stupidly reached for the M4 carbine on his back and was shot to death.The other 2 CAAs and the geologist fully complied and the NPA captured three M4 carbines and three ICOM V87s (walkie-talkies). It was initially believed that the fourth CAA,the one who ran off into the jungle,had been captured or killed by the NPA but he surfaced after nightfall, 14 hours later.Apparently,in his blind fear he ran headlong through the jungle and clear over a cliff. Luckily for the CAA the cliff face turned into an incline several meters down and some scrub vegetation broke his fall. Other than some scratches and bruises he is none the worse for the wear.
Russell slash Saint Augustine holds a 600 hectare tract that spans parts of Barangay Kingking and an adjoining barangay. It is interesting that the geologist was up and about considering that the Provincial Government had specifically issued the outfit a Stop Work Order, or as it is called in the Philippines, a Cease and Desist Order some weeks before. The issue at the centre of the Order is the company's failure to address illegal encroachment upon its tenement by small scale miners. Though Russell doesn't hold paper on the portion of barangay Kingking that suffered the April 23rd landslide its tenement is also swarming with fly by night operators hoping to turn a fast profit. It would seem counter intuitive for a huge mining corporation to not act when people engage in what amounts to bold faced theft but the companies are only concerned with the bottom line.
If you are the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of a multi-national mining corporation and you have a tract producing say 14 Million US Dollars a month...but end up losing 1.2 Million US more from poaching small scale miners you need to do a cost:benefit analysis. If you turn the SCAA on them you will have what amounts to a sub-conflit (small war) on your operation's doorstep. If you are a publicly held corporation it will murder your share price as well as your stockholders' portfolio...If it expands to AFP participation the government might just clamp down on you. There are a plethora of less than savoury outcomes and so parasitic small scale miners are endured. If you are an LGU (Local Government Unit,as in municipal or provincial government) executive you don't have such freedom.Landslides that kill dozens every few months ON TOP of the social ills such a trade produces by relation arent worth stomaching,ergo the Order handed down by Governor Uy.
The NPA spin meisters justified the "operation" by pointing out that a local tribesman,Santos Manrique,had been killed just a couple of weeks before. Mr.Manrique was a very vocal opponent of the Russell tenement and his death is widely believed to be linked to that opposition. In reality Saint Augustine has refused to pay its Revolutionary Taxes. This in turn means that the NPA has declared open season on the company.
Just two days after the checkpoint incident, on May 14th, in that same barangay,Kingking,a routine torture...I mean interrogation of a villager by the 71IB revealed that 2 men had been seen laying a weapons cache in a newly dug pit. Carefully excavating the hole the soldiers discovered 8 IEDs in rice sacks. The IEDs had identical signatures as the device that recently killed 3 in the neighbouring town of Maco, in addition to wounding 7.
To digress for a moment,if one were to poll laymen and ask them what the number one cause of war and conflict has been throughout the history of man they would more than likely say, "Religion." Of course that seems like a fair answer but it is absolutely incorrect. The cause of almost every single conflict that has wracked this planet has been natural resources,or to be specific, control of those natural resources. Religion is sometimes used as the ideological vehicle but it isn't the actual impetus.
Segueing back to the Diwata Mountains...Gold more often than not brings only misery. It attracts the worst of humanity. Huge communities spring up around its source and for a brief while there is hope. Yet anywhere one finds fast money they also will find people who aim to live like parasites, off of the good fortune of others. Pimps,drug dealers...Corruption abounds, from those sworn to protect like the AFP and PNP (Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police) to those sworn to serve their communities in other ways, like politicians and civil servants.
Seeing vulnerable,ill communities insurgents are drawn to such places as centres of gravity, or ground zero in that particular dynamic. The NPA,or New People's Army, is drawn to such places for several reasons. The top two reasons are equally important; first, boom towns present a myriad of funding possibilities. "Revolutionary Taxes" are little more than Protection Rackets that target a vulnerable demographic. Living amongst a corrupt security apparattus what can a targetted business man or company really do? There is no choice but to pay up and pay they do. The average rate of "Taxation" for a multi-national corporation mining the Diwata Mountains averages a neat P1 Million ($22,000) PER MONTH. The NPA loves to tell anyone who listens that they are battling against foreign-based corporations who aim to siphon off the nation's patrimony as the poor Lumad (generic term applied to all Animist Hilltribes on Mindanao) are lucky if they even net 2 or 3 years of backbreaking labour at not much above the minimum wage.
The truth of the matter is that the NPA wants these multi-national bloodsuckers working these hills just as bad as the Government sitting in Manila does. Both are just as greedy and both have exactly the same endgame, control of the central axis of power and to gain this, or in the Government's case to retain this, they need money, lots of money.
The second reason is that the multi-nationals are a large cog in the dynamic that creates these battered mountain communities. What better pool of recruits could the NPA ever hope for? Let's see...on one hand you have an existence of pathetic misery with a life expectancy of 47 years with 1 meal a day of white rice and Bitter Melon (Ampalaya)...or a life as a guerilla where you are led to believe you are working to help create a world where everyone will have enough to eat and enough money to live. Naturally the life of a gueriila is many more times attractive and this is why the bast bulk of the NPA's forces on Mindanao are Lumad.
On May 4th, 2011 in Pantukan's Barangay Tibagon three columns from the 71IB (Infantry Battalion) were on patrol when they walked right into an NPA ambush courtesy of Front 2, the Crucifino Uballas Command. As is so often the case it began with an IED (Improvised Explosive Device,as in "bomb") that immediately killed the soldier on point (the soldier walking at the lead of one of the columns). In the 55 minute long firefight that followed 2 more soldiers were critically wounded. The AFP, trying as always to use its scraps for propaganda value claimed that the heartless NPA senselessly attacked an AFP element as it engaged in Search and Rescue Operations relating to that aforementioned Good Friday Landslide. Uh,guys? The landslide was in Barangay Kingking, the soldiers in this contact were in Barangay Tibagon. More over, Search and Rescue Operations ended 2 days earlier and don't involve three columned formations. People DO pay attention to the facts so the AFP should at least try to spin its dirtywork intelligently.
Speaking of Barangay Kingking though...On May 12th in that barangay's Sitio Maplog,near the border of Sitio Lawa'an the NPA's 3rd Pulang Bagani (Red Warrior) Company of the Merardo Arce Command (SMRC,as in Southern Mindanao Regional Committee) implemented an impromptu checkpoint.Shortly thereafter 4 motorcycles were stopped. All 4 were driven by SCAA soldiers employed by Saint Augustine Copper and Gold. Saint Augustine is a joint venture that serves as the aforementioned Russell Mining and its local partner NADECOR's (National Development Corporation) local operating entity. Philippine Laws require all foreign owned companies to engage a local partner in sn advantageous 60:40 split, in favour of the locally owned company. To try and maximise this disadvantageous relationship a multi-national will sometimes create a local operating entity,hence Saint Augustine.
On the morning in question a company geologist was on his way to examine a test hole.SCAA,or Special Citizens Active Auxiliary, is 1 of the 4 CAA (Citizens Active Auxiliaries) entities used by the AFP as the cornerstone of its Counterinsurgency Programe. While many Filipinos are quite familiar with another of the CAA entities,the CAFGU,or Citizens Active Geographical Force Unit, the SCAA remains a mystery to most.The are privately funded by business owners but trained and equipped by the AFP.While CAFGU will almost always have extremely old M1s (Garand 30 caliber) the SCAA almost always carries AFP quality weaponry (not that the AFP has anything really effective). Because CAAs on average have but 45 days of extremely minimal training and tend to carry AFP quality weaponry they are a primary target of NPA tactical assaults.
As the 4 motorcycles neared the checkpoint,with the geologist riding tandem on one,they realised too late that they were trapped.One SCAA soldier immediately dumped his bike and ran off into the jungle.A second,CAA Casiano,stupidly reached for the M4 carbine on his back and was shot to death.The other 2 CAAs and the geologist fully complied and the NPA captured three M4 carbines and three ICOM V87s (walkie-talkies). It was initially believed that the fourth CAA,the one who ran off into the jungle,had been captured or killed by the NPA but he surfaced after nightfall, 14 hours later.Apparently,in his blind fear he ran headlong through the jungle and clear over a cliff. Luckily for the CAA the cliff face turned into an incline several meters down and some scrub vegetation broke his fall. Other than some scratches and bruises he is none the worse for the wear.
Russell slash Saint Augustine holds a 600 hectare tract that spans parts of Barangay Kingking and an adjoining barangay. It is interesting that the geologist was up and about considering that the Provincial Government had specifically issued the outfit a Stop Work Order, or as it is called in the Philippines, a Cease and Desist Order some weeks before. The issue at the centre of the Order is the company's failure to address illegal encroachment upon its tenement by small scale miners. Though Russell doesn't hold paper on the portion of barangay Kingking that suffered the April 23rd landslide its tenement is also swarming with fly by night operators hoping to turn a fast profit. It would seem counter intuitive for a huge mining corporation to not act when people engage in what amounts to bold faced theft but the companies are only concerned with the bottom line.
If you are the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of a multi-national mining corporation and you have a tract producing say 14 Million US Dollars a month...but end up losing 1.2 Million US more from poaching small scale miners you need to do a cost:benefit analysis. If you turn the SCAA on them you will have what amounts to a sub-conflit (small war) on your operation's doorstep. If you are a publicly held corporation it will murder your share price as well as your stockholders' portfolio...If it expands to AFP participation the government might just clamp down on you. There are a plethora of less than savoury outcomes and so parasitic small scale miners are endured. If you are an LGU (Local Government Unit,as in municipal or provincial government) executive you don't have such freedom.Landslides that kill dozens every few months ON TOP of the social ills such a trade produces by relation arent worth stomaching,ergo the Order handed down by Governor Uy.
The NPA spin meisters justified the "operation" by pointing out that a local tribesman,Santos Manrique,had been killed just a couple of weeks before. Mr.Manrique was a very vocal opponent of the Russell tenement and his death is widely believed to be linked to that opposition. In reality Saint Augustine has refused to pay its Revolutionary Taxes. This in turn means that the NPA has declared open season on the company.
Just two days after the checkpoint incident, on May 14th, in that same barangay,Kingking,a routine torture...I mean interrogation of a villager by the 71IB revealed that 2 men had been seen laying a weapons cache in a newly dug pit. Carefully excavating the hole the soldiers discovered 8 IEDs in rice sacks. The IEDs had identical signatures as the device that recently killed 3 in the neighbouring town of Maco, in addition to wounding 7.
Friday, December 24, 2010
NPA,Last Quarter of 2011:The Xmas Ceasefire Struggles On and Two Cases of Poetic Justice
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.
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.
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