84 arms seized by NPA in raid

Barely two weeks after the Estrada regime in the Philippines terminated peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) on June 1 this year, the Communist Party-led New People’s Army (NPA) launched two dramatic tactical offensives, thus signalling its growing strength and readiness to step up armed struggle according to its increased capabilities.  

NPA guerrillas struck on June 11 on the island of Bohol, in the central part of the Philippines; and again on June 15 in Davao City, in the large southern island of Mindanao. 

Eighty-four firearms were seized by the New People’s Army when it raided the headquarters of the 7th Regional Mobile Group-Combat Support Company in Barangay Rizal, Batuan, Bohol, a province in central Philippines. This is the largest number of arms seized by the NPA in a tactical offensive since the Second Great Rectification Movement was launched in 1992 by the Philippine revolutionary movement.  

The raid was successfully launched on the morning of June 11 without the NPA firing a single shot. It was conducted by Red fighters led by the NPA Regional Operational Command in Central Visayas.  

The 7th  Regional Mobile Police is the leading PNP unit waging suppression campaigns against the people and the revolutionary movement in Central Visayas and is responsible for numerous violations of human rights. In a statement, the NPA said it conducted the raid in response to requests from the people of Barangay Rizal that punishment be meted out to the abusive police unit.  

The successful tactical offensive was the fruit of careful investigation and planning, both of which were made possible only through the deep and wide support enjoyed by the New People’s Army from the people in the locality. In the process of investigating, the NPA learned that the enemy troopers were positioned atop and below a mountain.  

Firing and maneuvering would not have been an appropriate tactic. The NPA command decided to conduct a commando raid by stratagem and to use a superior force.  

The tactical offensive was daringly executed. More than a hundred Red fighters arrived at the detachment at exactly 6:56 a.m. aboard vans with the markings of the Department of the Interior and Local Government of the reactionary state, posing as PNP troopers bringing in a captured guerrilla. This enabled the Red fighters to enter the camp. Also alighting from the van was a guerrilla in a barong tagalog  (traditional formal shirt), accompanied by three smartly dressed women—all looking like government officials.  Another guerrilla was in a police major’s uniform, and he was saluted by the enemy policemen as the NPA group entered the building.  

Once inside, the guerrillas drew their guns and swiftly disarmed and held at bay the 36 policemen and trainees in the camp.  A signal was raised, and in the wink of an eye about 100 Red fighters arrived to collect the arms, ammunition and other military equipment that was the objective of the raid.  

All in all, when the NPA guerrillas withdrew, they carried away with them 84 high-powered and smaller caliber weapons, including M-16 and M-14 rifles,  an M-60 machinegun and grenade launchers, a 60 mm mortar, assorted handguns, and lots of ammunition and various kinds of military equipment.  

The tactical offensive lasted till 9:00 a.m. Before the Red fighters retreated, they were able to hold a mass meeting, conduct propaganda among the policemen in the detachment and distribute leaflets explaining the political basis for the raid. Two captured policemen were immediately released after an intensive discussion with them.  

The successful tactical offensive is proof of the correctness of one of the basic principles advocated by the Second Great Rectification Movement—that armed struggle would advance in stages on the basis of painstakingly expanding and deepening the mass base.  

Even shame-faced police officials could do nothing but admit that the raid could not have been conducted without the cooperation of the people of Batuan. Because of extreme embarrassment, the PNP command in Central Visayas relieved the following day the detachment chief, Insp. Richard Caballero, along with the entire Combat Support Company.  

The successful raid in Batuan serves as a resounding slap on the face of the Estrada regime, which has gone all-out to terrorize the people and the revolutionary movement with counterrevolutionary violence.  

The items seized in the raid were the following:  

          Item                         Quantity               Item                         Quantity  

M16 and M14 rifles                 52                Mortar ammo                       52  
M203 grenade launchers            3                M203 ammo                        50+  
Light machine gun                      1                 Hand grenades                    20+  
60 mm mortar                            1                Rifle grenades                      20+  
Shotgun                                     1                Military packs                      50+  
Automatic pistols                     18                Vests                                    50+  
Revolvers                                  5                Military Uniforms                  100+  
M16 and M14 ammo        12,000+  

Earlier in the year, Bohol was in the news when a vice mayor defected to the revolutionary movement and joined the NPA in January.  Several months after this, NPA guerrillas ambushed and killed a mayoral candidate; still later, they raided the town hall and the mayor’s residence in Batuan municipality.  

All these incidents, plus the latest and much-publicized attack on the police headquarters, prompted media commentators to speculate that Bohol had become a major base of the NDFP in the Visayan islands or central part of the Philippines.  

In the Davao city offensive, a force of about 100 red fighters, ambushed a Philippine Army (PA) patrol, killing six soldiers and wounding 12.  The enemy rushed reinforcements to the ambush area in the city’s outskirts, including a helicopter gunship, and another day of firefights ensued before theguerrillas withdrew into the forest.  Two red fighters, sad to say, lost their lives in the fighting.  

The 100-strong NPA force was led by Commander Parago, who recently became well-known to the Philippine public as the commanding officer of the NPA unit that captured and held as prisoners of war (POWs) an army general and a captain some months ago.  The two POWs—together with three other POWs, two police officers and a soldier captured in various parts of the country—were subsequently released by the NPA after the Estrada government was forced to give in to several demands made by the NDFP.  

Tactical offensives advance in Southern Tagalog 

Five members of a private army and four soldiers were killed while three troopers were wounded in three separate tactical offensives by the New People’s Army (NPA) in Southern Tagalog this May and June. 

Five security guards of Golden Country Farms Inc. (GCFI) were killed in an ambush by NPA guerrillas in Barangay Balansay, Mamburao, Mindoro Occidental on June 10. The security guards 
serve as a private army of Ricardo Quintos, the despotic landlord who owns the 7,000-hectare GCFI. Quintos and his guards are responsible for numerous killings, landgrabbing, intimidation 
and other abuses against the peasant masses of Mamburao. 

Two troopers were also killed when Red fighters ambushed soldiers of the 76 th IB along the highway in Barangay Walay, Padre Burgos, Quezon on May 25. The soldiers were aboard a 
Kennedy-type jeep when their vehicle hit a land mine planted by the guerrillas. Two other soldiers were wounded. 

Earlier, another soldier was killed and another was wounded when the NPA ambushed a team from the 31st  IB that was on combat patrol in Barangay Biga, Gumaca, Quezon.  

Meanwhile, NPA guerrillas raided this May a Philippine Army detachment in Sitio Ilayang Crossing, Barangay Sayao, Mogpog, Marinduque. The raid was one of the first tactical offensives of the NPA in the province. 

Ambush, punitive action launched in Saranggani and North Cotabato 

An abusive member of the Citizens’ Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU)—a paramilitary force of the Philippine reactionary government was killed while three soldiers were wounded in three separate tactical offensives launched by the New People’s 
Army (NPA) in Saranggani and North Cotabato this June. 

A corporal was wounded when Red fighters ambushed elements of the 25 th IB on June 27 in Barangay Matbol, Maasin, Saranggani. The soldiers were on patrol when they were ambushed 
by the NPA. Red fighters had drawn blood from this same battalion a week before in another ambush, wounding two other soldiers. 

Meanwhile, an NPA team punished CAFGU Rommelson Puig in Barangay Balite, Magpet, North Cotabato on June 20. Puig was aboard a motorcycle when ambushed by NPA guerrillas. He was 
part of the 206 th Special Forces Team, a composite group of soldiers and CAFGU specially assigned to conduct “counter-insurgency” and responsible for numerous violations of human rights. 

NPA ambushes CAFGU, disarms mayor, policemen in Agusan del Sur 

Five high-powered firearms and other military equipment were added to the arsenal of the New People’s Army (NPA) in two separate tactical offensives in Agusan del Sur in May and June. 

Two elements of the Citizens’ Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) were killed when Red fighters ambushed a composite force of the 36 th IB and CAFGU in Barangay Oromica, Esperanza town in June. Two M14s were seized in the ambush. Earlier, NPA guerrillas disarmed an abusive mayor and two elements of the Philippine National Police this May in La Paz town. Two M16s, Armalite bullets, a .38, a handheld radio and a radio base were confiscated from the house of  Mayor Rufino Torralba of that municipality. Raids on the nearby houses of SPO4 Honorio Campus and SPO2 Jorge Plana also yielded another M16. 

Ambush, raid launched in Northern Luzon 

A soldier was killed while three other troopers were wounded in an ambush by the New People’s Army on the 22 nd Special Forces Coy of the 3 rd Special Forces Battalion-Philippine Army. 
The ambuscade was conducted on June 21 in Barangay Mainit, Bontoc, Mountain Province. 

Prior to this, the NPA raided on June 10 the “Pulisya ti Umili No. 5”, a Philippine National Police sub-station in Barangay Pilitan, Tumauini, Isabela. Red fighters confiscated two bandoliers full of bullets for an Armalite rifle, fatigue uniforms and other military equipment. 

Revolutionary justice was meted successively to two elements of the Philippine National Police in Nueva Ecija who owed blood debts to the people and the revolutionary movement. According to Lingkaw, the revolutionary mass newspaper in the province, SPO1 Jose Ordinario was 
punished in Barangay Tayabo, San Jose City on March 15. Earlier, SPO4 Leodegario Maiquez was punished in Barangay San Pedro, Lupao on March 14. Ordinario was responsible for killing a peasant leader in 1990. Maiquez, meanwhile, murdered two Lupao residents and was involved in the murder of a resident of Cuyapo. He was also the leader of the “akyat-bahay gang” that victimized the people of northern Nueva Ecija and was a notorious extortionist who preyed on vendors and tricycle drivers. 

Defensive transformed into victory 

New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas overcame their defensive situation when their camp was encircled by enemy troops on the afternoon of June 16 in Barangay Dominga, Calinan, Davao City. Seven soldiers were killed when Red fighters fought against attacking elements of the “Alpha” Coy of the 73rd IB-Philippine Army. Six troopers were also wounded while another six sustained other injuries. 

In a statement, the Merardo Arce Command, the regional NPA unit in Southern Mindanao said that two Red fighters died instantly when the military opened fire upon discovering the NPA camp. After the first volley of fire, the NPA quickly seized a more favorable position and were able to launch a counter-offensive. This shocked the attacking troops’ commanding officer, 2Lt. Dominic Baluga, who ran and abandoned his men in the midst of the battle. 

Ambuscades launched in Compostela Valley 

Four elements of the Citizens’ Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) and a soldier were killed in two separate ambuscades by the New People’s Army (NPA) in Compostela Valley this June. 

Three CAFGU who were part of a team on patrol were killed when they were ambushed by Red fighters in Barangay Libulon, Mabini town in Davao del Norte on the morning of June 27. 

Before this, a CAFGU member and a soldier were slain when Red fighters ambushed a composite unit of the Philippine Army and CAFGU conducting a patrol on June 1 in Laac town. An NPA blocking force also opened fired on the enemy’s troop reinforcements. 

NPA raids PICOP, AFP detachment 

The New People’s Army (NPA) conducted three successive tactical offensives in Surigao del Sur this May. Red fighters attacked the 29th  IB detachment in Doña Carmen town on May 23 and confiscated three M16s, three carbines and a handheld radio. Prior to this, the NPA raided the PICOP Resources Inc. factory in the nearby town of Bislig on May 19 and burned the company’s machinery. Seven days before the raid on the factory, NPA guerrillas had also ambushed in Bislig a group of men belonging to PICOP’s private army. A member of the PICOP security force died in the ambush. 

PICOP, which owns a 195,000-hectare concession that straddles the borders of four provinces in Mindanao, is the biggest corporation in Asia that manufactures and exports plywood and paper products and engages in industrial tree farming. The three tactical offensives were launched by the 
NPA to punish the corporation and the 29th  IB for its brutal suppression of the rights of PICOP workers. In 1998, PICOP colluded with the 28th  and 29th  IBs to break the workers’ strike. 
PICOP also used the Special Civilian Auxiliary Army that serves as its security force and private army and brought in hired killers. 

Some  guerrilla actions in 1998  

Throughout 1998, NPA guerrillas were active in various regions, islands and provinces of the country.  The NPA has 81 guerrilla fronts in all strategic points of the archipelago.  

Some of the tactical offensives launched by the NPA in 1998 are the following.  

On Samar, island in the Visayas, an NPA unit ambushed a jeepload of army troopers in Lavezares town, Northern Samar province, killing three soldiers, including a lieutenant.  Almost simultaneously, not far from the ambush site, another NPA unit raided the PNP provincial mobile force headquarters, killing two policemen and wounding several others.  The NPA suffered no casualties in the two offensives, while they confiscated a dozen weapons, including M-16 and M-14 rifles, an M-60 machinegun and assorted handguns.  

Meanwhile, in the Bicol region—in the southern part of Luzon island—the NPA put out of action 10 enemy soldiers (seven killed, three wounded) and confiscated about 25 firearms (mostly M-16 rifles) in a series of tactical offensives from March to August.  

The offensives featured two ambushes in Sorsogon province in March; an ambush on a PNP mobile force company in Albay province in April; an attack by an NPA platoon on an army patrol in Camarines Sur province, also in March, a raid on an army detachment outpost in Albay, in July; and in mid-Augusr, an NPA sniping operation to get rid of a notorious government soldier in Camarines Norte province.  

In other provinces of Luzon island, a three-man NPA sparrow unit punished with death a policeman of the PNP mobile force company in Batangas province, afterwards confiscating his M-16 rifle and .45 caliber pistol.  In the Mountain province—in the northern part of Luzon, an NPAS platoon ambushed a patrol of the enemy'’ 54th Infantry Battalion, killing an officer and wounding two army corporals.  

Down south, meanwhile, on Mindanao island, NPA guerrillas ambushed a jeepload of policemen in July, in Davao Oriental province.  Killed in the attack were four policemen, including the police chief of Boston municipality in that province; five other policemen were wounded.  

In April, also in Mindanao, NPA guerrillas punished with death a notorious rubber plantation administrator in Esperanza town, Agusan del Sur province.  This criminal had long abused and victimized the peasants and farm workers in several barrios of Esperanza, and it came as no surprise that the masses in the area were elated when they received the news that the NPA had gotten rid of the hated administrator.