Martha Reeves and the Vandellas sang "Nowhere to run to, baby, nowhere to hide" and Major General Antonio Parlade, of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict says the same thing to the communist rebels.
 |
| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1085480 |
Nowhere to go.
This was the reaction of Major General Antonio Parlade, of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF ELCAC) to Communist Party of the Philippine (CPP) founder Jose Maria "Joma" Sison's claims that rebel assassins known as "Special Partisan Units" (SPARU) will be making a comeback in key populated centers "if there is no more space for patriotic and progressive forces in urban areas".
"Indeed, there is none. Your NPA (New People's Army) terrorist goons no longer have communities to go back to in the hills as the people have shooed them away after 50 years of exploitation of the poor. This is the story of hundreds of your militia and regular NPAs who surrendered last month in Panay. Where before your regulars had the more established safehouses, 'BAGER' (Baseng Gerilya) or 'SOGER' (Sonang Gerilya) to hide in Negros, now they are forced to hide in underground (UG) safehouses in Bacolod," he added.
What Maj. Gen. Parlade is talking about is all the cities issuing proclamations of persona non grata to the CPP and the mass surrenders of rebels and their supporters. He says these actions have diminished the support for the communists and has forced them to hide out in underground safe houses. Like last week in Bacolod when 55 people were busted in a safe house and weapons were found all over the place. In response to these actions and the continual crackdown by the Duterte administration CPP founder Joma Sison has hinted that the SPARU assassins might return.
 |
| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1186763/sparrows-may-return-in-response-to-activists-arrest-joma |
The Duterte administration is constricting the democratic space in the country by launching a crackdown on its critics, particularly from the legal leftist movement, unwittingly pushing them to armed resistance, according to Jose Maria Sison, founding chair of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
Sison, who lives in exile in the Netherlands, said in response to a question that he could not tell whether the recent arrests of activists would prompt the communist New People’s Army (NPA) to resurrect its “sparrow units,” or hit squads.
“I do not know. I have no answer to that question,” he told the Inquirer in an online interview on Wednesday from the Dutch city of Utrecht. “But perhaps it could happen if there is no more space for patriotic and progressive forces in urban areas.”
Citing CPP and NPA publications, Sison said the communist insurgents were reviving armed city partisan units while preparing commando teams based in the countryside that could be deployed to cities on missions.
Accusations of he SPARU assassin squads still operating have been floated around for some time. I wrote about that last year. In April of this year Dutere told the AFP and PNP to "learn the art of assassination" in order to fight the Sparrow squads. Perhaps that is why in August 275 soldiers began sniper training.
 |
| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1077205 |
A total of 275 soldiers from different Army divisions are undergoing snipers training at Camp Sang-an that houses the Army’s 1st Infantry Division headquarters in the neighboring town of Labangan, officials said Wednesday.
Capt. Clint Antipala, Army’s 1st Infantry Division information officer, said the Squad Snipers Training Class-3, which started Tuesday, is a six-week course designed to develop the soldiers’ fighting capability particularly in honing shooting ability.
Antipala said the training also aims to enhance the participant’s knowledge, skills, attitude and confidence in delivering shots using the standard issued assault rifle R4A3.
It's doubtful there will be a war of assassins. But it could happen.
 |
| https://mindanao.politics.com.ph/military-organizes-sniper-company-in-maguindanao/ |
A military’s sniper company has been activated in Maguindanao.
The newly organized 61st Division Sniper Company (DSC) under the 6th Infantry Division is commanded by Capt. Judy M. Valera.
The activation of the company is a force multiplier to provide sniping capability to the Infantry Battalions of the Division for them to be more effective and efficient in accomplishing their respective assigned combat missions, military’s Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) said.
What's more likely though is an escalation of violence if the NPA goes through with their plans to launch more attacks on the AFP.
 |
| https://politics.com.ph/cpp-orders-npa-to-launch-more-attacks-vs-government-troops/ |
The Communist Part of the Philippines (CPP) called on the New People’s Army (NPA) to intensify tactical offensives in response to the arrest of more than 60 suspected NPA rebels in Bacolod City.
“The Party urges the NPA in Negros and across the country to heed the Filipino people’s demand for justice against Duterte’s abuses. They must exert all effort to mount tactical offensives against the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and PNP (Philippine National Police) units, especially those behind fascist crimes,” the revolutionary group said.
In a statement, the CPP claimed that the mass arrest of activists in the capital city of Negros Occidental shows the heightening fascism of the Duterte administration.
“It is a brazen display of force and abuse of state powers. It seeks to terrorize the people and their democratic forces. It aims to silence the broad masses against worsening oppression under the Duterte regime,” they said.
It has been over a week since this order was given and there have been no major attacks in Bacolod or Negros. It's been business as usual. And business is booming. At least in Suriago Sur.
 |
The communist New People’s Army receives an average extortion money of PHP6 million a month from different businesses in Surigao del Sur, a top Army official said Wednesday.
In a statement, 1Lt. Jonald D. Romorosa, civil-military operations officer of the Army's 36th Infantry Battalion, said the extortion money comes from politicians, businessmen, mining operations, construction companies, and even ordinary citizens in the region.
Lt. Col. Jezreel J. Diagmel, 36IB acting commander, said intensified military operations are ongoing to "obstruct the extortion activities" of the rebels in the region.
Hopefully the AFP goes after those who pay the money and not just the NPA. The AFP continues to bring in the money also. But theirs is freely donated from the USA and not extorted through force.
 |
| https://businessmirror.com.ph/2019/11/08/us-official-military-aid-to-phl-still-priority/ |
“Our current relationship with this country is probably one of the best,” Philippine Ambassador to Wanshington, Jose Manuel Romualdez, told Filipino journalists on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila).
Mark Clark, director for Office of Maritime Southeast Asia at the State Department, said the Philippines is by far the largest recipient of defense aid in the region, providing support to the Armed Forces of the Philippines’s modernization program.
Since 2016, Clark said Washington has provided the Philippines almost $550 million in defense assistance, a move that demonstrates the US’s commitment to its alliance with Manila. It is the largest aid recently provided by the US to the Philippines.
“We’ve provided significant military equipment through transfer and direct sales,” Clark said, citing “robust and growing” ties with the Philippines..
Minister Rosanna Villamor-Voogel of the Philippine Embassy in Washington said the increase in American defense assistance “is indicative of the continued interest of the US government to find ways and means to help and complement the priority of President Duterte.”
Since fiscal year 2016, the Philippines has received $554.55 million in defense assistance from the US Department of State and Department of Defense, Villamor-Voogel said.
Of this amount, $267.75 million came from foreign military financing, $73 million in fiscal year 2018 assistance, another $278.8 million in US Department of Defense Security Assistance and over $8 million in international military education and training funds. “As you know more than us—because you hear it everyday—the priority of our current government is really to ensure that defense modernization continues and in a way make up for lost time,” she said.
$554.55 million over 3 years is not peanuts and belies every claim Duterte has made about turning from the USA and the West to China and Russia. The US and the Philippines remain tight-knitted partners. Without the US who knows what the state the Philippines would be in. Maybe the NBI can enlist the help of the CIA to extradite Joma Sison to the Philippines.
 |
| https://news.mb.com.ph/2019/10/29/govt-bares-all-out-plan-to-arrest-joma-sison/ |
“We have formed a team and it is now in Europe kasama ang (with the) Interpol [International Police Organization],” Esperon said.
However, Esperon refused to reveal any more details about the coordination of the Philippine team and Interpol so as not to jeopardize the operations.
He added that the national government was planning to get lawyers from Europe to possibly extradite Sison and let him answer the charges against him in the Philippines.
Sison, his wife Juliet, and 37 others are facing multiple murder charges before the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 32 over their alleged involvement in the 1980s Inopacan massacre.
Will they catch him? Will Sison be returned to the Philippines? He currently resides in the Netherlands under the status of political asylum. The government has been urging the EU to drop that status and hand him over but as of now he remains seemingly untouchable. Perhaps one day he will have his day in court.
