Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Insurgency: Sexual Abuse

The CPP-NPA's ceasefire is officially over and now the will resume their fruitless 50 year fight against the oppressive forces of the Western allied Philippine government. 

https://www.rappler.com/nation/259596-cpp-npa-ends-ceasefire-may-1-2020
“The refusal of the Duterte regime to relent in its attacks against the NPA, despite calls for a ‘global ceasefire,’ has made the further extension of the NPA ceasefire impossible,” the party said on its official website.
Apparently all the attacks by the NPA on AFP soldiers and others handing out goods had nothing to do with the response of the "Duterte regime." 

Members of the Communist Party of the Philippines - New People’s Army Terrorist (CNT) group fired upon troopers of the joint 79th Infantry Battalion and the 6th Special Action Force Battalion in Sitio Sicaba, Barangay Gawahon in Victorias City, April 24. 
Troopers were conducting information dissemination to the communities about COVID-19 pandemic, residents of Sitio Sicaba complained about the presence and extortion activities of the CNTs and upon securing the area, the CNTs spontaneously fired upon the government troops forcing them to return fire. 
The firefight ensued for about 30 minutes that led the NPAs to withdrew to different directions and were seen dragging four of their comrade casualties leaving also two wounded government soldiers during the pursuit operation. 
According to Alvaran, the NPA terrorist group were about to explode IED which indicates a clear violation against humanitarian law. 
Recovered from the encounter site were improvised explosive devices, guns, ammunitions, radios, personal belongings and subversive documents.
The announcement of the ceasefire has the PNP  on full alert.

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/736538/pnp-goes-on-full-alert-after-cpp-npa-ndf-ends-ceasefire/story/
"The 205,000 strong PNP under the command of Police General Archie Francisco F Gamboa is now on full alert and is ready and able to defend the country against any atrocities of this communist terrorist group," it said. 
"The PNP Chief also condemns this act by the CPP-NPA-NDF as it endangers government response to overcome the pandemic," the PNP added.
With the insurgency on-going for 50 years now one would think the PNP is always on full alert. 

Peace talks wth the communists are also over. Again. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1265601/no-more-peace-talks-with-communist-rebels
“Again, this is a sad thing to know that my soldiers were killed while doing the most honorable task of accompanying the government workers delivering money and food,” Duterte said, speaking partly in Filipino,  in a televised address on Monday. 
“I am so sad about this development, but there will always be a time for reckoning. There [are] no more peace talks to talk about. I am not, I will never be ready for any round of talks,” he added. “Because, simply, the NPA [New People’s Army], the Communist Party of the Philippines, [have] no respect either for their spoken words or in their deeds of killing soldiers who are on humanitarian missions.”
Peace talks with the CPP were always dead in the water because they want the CASER agreement to be implemented and that will never happen. 

The AFP says the NPA is worse than COVID-19 as they continue their attacks.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1101461
"These terrorists are worse than the Covid-19 pandemic. (Even in) crisis, they continue with their antagonism rather than help people in need,” said Maj. Gen. Eric Vinoya, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, which covers the provinces in Western and Central Visayas.
Evidence that NPA men are abusing their female comrades has come to light recently.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1101081
The recovery of boxes of anti-pregnancy pills from a lair of the New People’s Army (NPA) overran by the military in Northern Samar is a proof of the communist terrorist group's sexual abuse of its female combatants, the Philippine Army said. 
Maj. Gen. Pio DiƱoso III, commander of the Philippine Army’s 8th Infantry Division, said in a statement on Monday that the recent discovery reveals the suffering of women fighters under the control of the armed rebels. 
“The anti-pregnancy pills are proof of the situation of women under the unbearable control of the NPA terrorists. Women fighters could have been compelled to take anti-pregnancy pills and they might have been forced to become sex objects of some NPA leaders,” he said. 
He said the abuse of female NPA members is common in areas where they operate. Women have become subject to sexual exploitation by NPA leaders and other members, according to the official. 
“Former rebels said that some women end up as party wife of other NPAs while others end up only as sex objects of some leaders or senior members. Most often, pregnant NPAs are being abandoned by their leaders and companions in dire situations,” he added.
Birth control pills? Seems a little odd seeing as how the NPA trains child soldiers and last week it was noted that the AFP had seen children observing an encounter with the NPA. It would appear that some NPA soldiers drag their children around with them. Not all NPA ladies are taking birth control pills.


https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1268864/2-npa-members-one-of-them-pregnant-surrender-in-sarangani-province
He identified the pregnant woman as a certain Diane, resident of Barangay Lagao, General Santos City, who used to serve as a medical officer of the NPA’s FSMR. 
He also said Diane was “emotional” because she did not know how she would be able to give birth to her first-born child if she stayed with the rebel group. 
“For seven months, she said she had not seen a doctor for a check-up. She also said if not because of the military, she wouldn’t know she would be having a baby girl,” the official said. 
Valdez said Diane was also calling on her husband to surrender.
A husband and his pregnant wife battling the government together. How romantic. 

Sadly children are often collateral victims in the war against terrorism.


https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1268859/maguindanao-mayor-orders-probe-of-grenade-blast-that-killed-minors
Two grade school children Nash Utto and Edris Guiaman died of multiple shrapnel wounds after the grenade they found exploded on Saturday, police said. 
Mayor Ampatuan said the children were hunting for birds in the wetland when they found a fragmentation grenade. The children were playing with the item when it went off, he said, citing reports from the police. 
The victims were immediately buried by relatives on Saturday, following Islamic rites. 
Barangay Sampao has been the site of previous clashes between government forces and Islamic State-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF). The grenade that the children found could have been a part of the unexploded ordnance that litter the clash site, Ampatuan said. 
The mayor said measures must be put in place to prevent a similar incident from happening in the future.
He said he would coordinate with military bomb experts to help locate other unexploded ordnance which might still be littering about in the former battlefront.
The best measure to prevent these incidents is for the Islamic and communist insurgencies to end. How much unexploded ordnance and grenades are littering the Philippines?

Sixteen labor leaders with links to the CPP-NPA have been arrested.  They claim that the CPP hired them to destabilize the industrial sector.


https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1101688
Some 16 labor leaders, who admitted connections to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA), surrendered to the military and police during short ceremonies in Calamba, Laguna Friday. 
The surrenderers claimed that they are members of a labor union at a soft drinks plant in Sta. Rosa and were recruited by the communist rebels to join their underground movement as part of the efforts to destabilize the industrial sector which is known in CPP-NPA parlance as "white area operations".  
In a statement forwarded to the Philippine News Agency Saturday, Army’s 202nd Infantry Brigade commander Col. Alex Rillera, which has operational jurisdiction over the Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Quezon (CALABARZON) industrial areas, said four of the surrenderers are already full-time CPP members with the rest "kandidatong kasapi". 
Kandidatong kasapi are recruits who are just a few courses away from attaining full-time membership. 
Rillera said four of the surrenderers turned over four firearms and admitted to having already experienced joining the NPAs in the mountains and participating in the terrorist group’s operations. 
“This surrender supports the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and the PNP (Philippine National Police)'s earlier assessment that the NPA terrorists are infiltrating the industrial areas through the labor unions to force the companies to shut their operations down so that innocent employees will be agitated to go against the government,” he said.
What prompted them to surrender? More importantly will they qualify to receive E-CLIP benefits?

No birth controls pills have been found among the stuff of the Abu Sayyaf. Just marijuana plants.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1101645
Joint government forces have discovered and destroyed a marijuana plantation maintained by an alleged supporter of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in the province of Sulu, officials said Saturday. 
Lt. Col. Oliver Baylon, Marine Battalion Landing Team 7 (MBLT-7) commander, said the marijuana plantation was discovered in Sitio Mangal-Mangal, Barangay Masjid Punjungan, Kalingalang Caluang town on Friday. 
Baylon said the marijuana plantation was discovered when MBLT-7 troopers and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) operatives launched an operation against a drug personality identified as a certain Sahabi in Sitio Mangal-Mangal in Barangay Masjid Punjungan. 
“While scouring the reported haven, operating troops discovered six plantation sites of fully grown and two plantation sites of newly planted marijuana,” he said. 
Baylon said the marijuana plantation has a total land area of 2,100 square meters with more or less 22,000 fully-grown marijuana, estimated by the PDEA to be worth PHP5.1 million. 
Maj. Gen. Corleto Vinluan, Joint Task Force Sulu commander, said Sahabi is a supporter of the ASG and the marijuana plantation is another source of fund of the bandits and their supporters. 
The joint marines and PDEA operatives, in collaboration with barangay officials of Masjid Punjungan, uprooted and burned the marijuana plants.
Joint government forces destroy marijuana plantation. That's one source of funds destroyed. The AFP also continues engage the ASG in battle.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1266229/abu-sayyaf-gunman-killed-soldier-injured-in-sulu-clash
An Abu Sayyaf gunman was killed in a clash with government forces in Indanan, Sulu on Tuesday (April 28). 
Major General Corleto Vinluan, commander of Joint Task Force Sulu, said the brief encounter happened in Barangay Tumatangis of Indanan town around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The soldiers were on foot patrol when an undetermined number of bandits fired upon them. As government forces returned fire, an Abu gunman fell. 
A soldier also suffered slight injuries in the exchange of gunfire, Vinluan said. 
Vinluan added that an M16 assault rifle with M203 grenade launcher was recovered from the killed bandit.
One ASG dead and only one AFP soldier hurt is a much better outcome than the carnage from a few weeks ago when 12 AFP soldiers were killed in an encounter with the ASG. The MNLF also clashed with Abu Sayyaf.

https://www.kalinawnews.com/mnlf-clash-with-asg-in-sulu/
The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) clashed with the elements of Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) at Sitio Bunga, Brgy. Buanza, Indanan, Sulu, around 9 o’clock in the morning on April 24, 2020. 
MNLF troops encountered more or less fifty (50) fully armed ASG in a firefight that lasted for about forty (40) minutes according to MNLF coordinator, Lieutenant Colonel Esnani Mai. 
Prior to the clash, troops under MNLF Commander Abraham Joel conducted patrol in response to the alleged presence of ASG hiding near the MNLF Community in Brgy. Kagay, Indanan, Sulu. 
Seven (7) MNLF members suffered minor injuries as result of the skirmish and were immediately brought to Kuta Heneral Teodulfo Bautista Station Hospital. One of the injured members was thereafter transported to Zamboanga City via helicopter for further treatment. 
Major General Corleto S. Vinluan Jr. AFP, Commander of Joint Task Force Sulu and 11th Infantry Division lauded the efforts of the MNLF in assisting the troops in maintaining peace in Sulu. “I appreciate the contributions of the MNLF as one of the peace-inclined groups in our efforts to secure the whole province for the betterment of every Suluanon,” he said. 
The MNLF are now in pursuit tracking down the confronted ASG.
Imagine the AFP thanking one group of terrorists for confronting another group of terrorists. You don't have to because it actually happened. They actually called the MNLF, a terrorist group, "peace-inclined." 

https://news.mb.com.ph/2020/04/30/son-of-mnlf-cotabato-chair-slain-6-others-hurt-in-ambush/
Gunmen shot dead the son of the chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and wounded six others in a daring attack at Purok Tagumpay-Dos, Barangay Kilada in Matalam, North Cotabato , a police official said on Thursday. 
Police Captain Junrel Amutan, chief of the Matalam municipal police station, identified the slain victim as Norodin Sulayman Ali Ambil, who was also a councilor of Barangay Kilada, Matalam. 
Others wounded in the attack were identified as Romeo Datu Ali Ambil, 54, kagawad of Barangay Kilada; Robert Datu Ali Ambil, 25; Alipin Onotin Ambil, 25; Datu Mauro Ambil Matalam, 15; and Hamarodin Datu Ali Indao, 17, all residents of Barangay Kilada. 
Reports from the police intelligence unit said Ambil was also the deputy chair of the MNLF Sebangan Kutawato State Revolutionary Committee (SKSRC). His father, Datu Dima Ambil, is chair of the MNLF-SKSRC based in Barangay Kilada, Matalam. 
The chief of police said Ambil was driving his Isuzu D’Max pickup truck on their way to his village when the suspects, armed with high-powered guns, pumped bullets into his head. He died instantly. One of the bullets allegedly hit De Leon who was seated next to the kagawad. 
Amutan said they have yet to find out if Ambil’s attack could be part of a ‘rido’ or clan war with another Moro family due to a long standing land feud. 
A year ago, reports said the rido between the Ambil clan and another Moro family led by a certain Naig Naga and Michael Imbong — both members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), was already settled by leaders in the community. 
The latest attack against the Ambil clan caused the displacement of at least 174 families from three puroks of Barangay Kilada.
There is nothing peaceful about the MNLF or the MILF. They use terror to get what they want. Right now what the MNLF wants is Sulu because Duterte has promised to give it to MNLF leader Misuari. To do that they have to get rid of the ASG. It's opportunism not peace.

The big name groups always grab the spotlight but this week a lesser-known ISIS affiliate launched a brazen daytime attack on the PNP.

Suspected members of the ISIS-inspired Ansar Al-Khilafah Philippines terror group killed on Wednesday two policemen while conducting patrol in an outskirt village in Polomolok, South Cotatabato. 
Lt. Col. Alex Joe Orcajada, Polomolok police chief, said the four policemen, aboard two motorcycles, were conducting patrol in Barangay Koronadal Proper, Polomolok when waylaid by seven heavily-armed gunmen believed to be AKP members led by Jeoffrey Nilong. 
Police said the suspects are also engaged in the illegal drugs trade, gun-for-hire, and carnapping activities as sources of their operational funds. 
“The attack was carried out against the police after local police authorities conducted law enforcement operations against the terror group in the locality,” Orcajada said. 
AKP is founded by Mohammad Jaafar Maguid, an estranged Moro Islamic Liberation Front leader who pledged allegiance to the ISIS until he was killed during a military operation in Kiamba, Sarangani in January, 2017. 
Nilong, also an MILF member, assumed the leadership of the AKP which operates in SOCSARGEN (South Cotabato, Sarangani and General Santos) area.
AKP may be lesser-known but they are managed by a MILF member. So how is it that MILF is all for peace and is decommissioning but one of their own runs this terrorist outfit? It's a tangled web of terrorism in Muslim Mindanao.

Everything about the Philippines war on terrorism and the mechanisms they use to fight it are upside down and backwards. Take martial law for instance. A tool to be used only as a last resort in times of rebellion or invasion.


https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/04/20/in-justifying-probable-martial-law-panelo-says-covid-19-can-be-considered-an-invasion
Panelo said the coronavirus pandemic threatens the whole country which means that there is an "actual invasion" happening.  
"May bago nang international meaning ang invasion...It can mean the entry of a disease and the transfer from one area to another," he said in his commentary program. 
"Ano bang meron ngayon (What do we have now)? There is an actual invasion of the coronavirus disease which is pandemic," he said. 
While the Constitution requires a rebellion or an invasion as a basis for declaring martial law, Panelo said the charter also states that public safety could require an extraordinary measure. 
The coronavirus pandemic falls into the classification of a threat to public safety, he said. 
"It threatens in fact the entire country yung lahat ng mga kababayan natin so may actual na invasion," he said. 
(In my view as a lawyer, all situations that can be likened to a rebellion or invasion and threatens or serves as an imminent danger to the public can be met with an extraordinary power under the constitution.)
"All situation which can be likened to" an invasion.  What a broad interpretation of the law that is. Marital law likely won't be declared because of the virus but at least we can see how those in MalacaƱang think.

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