The Philippines has received a batch of new equipment from Australia to help them fight the insurgency.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1144773 |
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will utilize the information technology (IT) and multimedia equipment donated by the Australian government in its ongoing efforts to counter violent extremism.
“With these newly donated IT and multimedia equipment, the AFP will be able to amplify its capability of preventing and countering violent extremism, here in our country,” AFP chief, Gen. Cirilito Sobejana said Thursday.
The donation was coursed under the mutually agreed Australia-Philippines Enhanced Defence Cooperation Program.
Sobejana formally received the IT and multimedia equipment donation worth PHP2.7 million in a short ceremony at the AFP headquarters' canopy area in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City Wednesday.
The new equipment includes high-tech computers, tablets, storage devices, smart TVs, cameras, and audio recording components.
“The equipment will assist the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ office for the prevention and countering of violent extremism research to achieve its mission – by documenting and understanding the drivers of radicalization, effective strategies for prevention of violent extremism can be found,” Barta said.
The AFP continues to strengthen its counter-terrorism capabilities within cyberspace where access to available information is critical.
With the new equipment, access and exchange of information among the military's allies shall be made more available and secured.
“We have already made great strides in enhancing our capabilities in the cyberspace environment. However, we do acknowledge that much is still needed. After the grueling Marawi Siege in 2017 against the ISIS-Maute Group, and the lessons that we have to learn the hard way, the AFP is more than determined to prevent any incidents of the same nature from ever happening in the future,” Sobejana added.
Correct me if I'm wrong, and I am not, but the Marawi siege happened despite the AFP knowing it was going to happen. They had the information they simply did nothing with it. So this excuse that they need to strengthen their cyberspace security to prevent "incidents of the same nature from ever happening in the future" is a lie. What they need to do is assess threats properly and act accordingly on all available information. They literally had an informant inside the Maute group but IGNORED everything he told them.
While patrolling cyberspace is a crucial component of national security how much propaganda is spread online by the NPA in the same manner as ISIS? ISIS had a magazine and videos and a whole apparatus to spread information. What exactly does the NPA have in this regard? Did they coordinate there latest attack in Surigao del Sur online?
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1145058 |
The attack launched by New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Lanuza, Surigao del Sur on Thursday, which killed a civilian, injured two others, and destroyed millions worth of properties, shows their true identity as a terrorist group, ruthless murderers, and extortionists, a ranking military official said.
“What happened in Lanuza town manifested the true colors of the Communist Party of the Philippines -NPA - National Democratic Front. Their action affirmed their inclusion to the list of terrorist groups by the international community,” Brig. Gen. George L. Banzon, commander of the 901st Infantry Brigade, said in a statement issued on Saturday.
About 15 insurgents belonging to the Guerrilla Front 30 of the North Eastern Mindanao Regional Committee of the NPA, led by a certain Noel Tumarlas Alacre, alias Meagan, attacked the compound of the MR1 Construction in Purok 2, Barangay Zone 2 in Lanuza at about 9 p.m. on Thursday.
The rebels also fired upon responding police personnel, which led to a 30-minute gun battle.
The attack, Caramat added, would hamper the implementation of development programs and projects in the area.
“Investigators are preparing the documents for filing of multiple charges against the perpetrators. We assure the ends of justice will be served for the victims and their families. The NPA terrorists deserve to suffer the full wrath of the law,” Caramat said.
Surely filing charges against these men will bring justice right? That's very doubtful as many NPA fighters have surrendered only to avail of the government's lucrative benefits program. Why is the government treating the NPA like common criminals rather than as enemy combatants? This seems to be part of the problem of this whole insurgency. The AFP simply does not want to chase down the NPA and destroy them. They really think social programs will do the job for them.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1144917 |
With the Barangay Development Program (BDP), the government now has in possession a tool that can help defeat poverty that plays a part in the recruitment and radicalization of vulnerable communities into the ranks of communist terrorists and their radicalization.
"For us in the security sector, we recognize that the radicalization of vulnerable communities and recruitment into the armed insurgency can be traced in part to poverty, hunger, lack (of) access to education and economic opportunities, inadequate healthcare, infrastructure, and injustice. Our goal at the NTF ELCAC (National Task Force to End Local Communism Armed Conflict) through the BDP, is to address these fundamental factors," National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. said during the ground-breaking ceremonies for the BDP in the Bicol Region Thursday.
He said the NTF ELCAC, of which he is vice-chair, is very appreciative of the strong and overwhelming support of all local chief executives, lawmakers, and the private sectors for the BDP.
"We stand here today, both national and local organs of the government, arm-in-arm and united to end the root causes of the armed insurgency," Esperon said.
The BDP is the government's counter-insurgency plan that aims to deliver various government programs in conflict-afflicted and geographically isolated villages that have been considered "cleared" from the influence of communist rebels.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1144537 |
The people deserve better and it is too bad that the government does not wish to provide the services for which they are elected.On June 17, the village was declared under a state of calamity after nine puroks [sub-villages] were affected by a diarrhea outbreak.
In an interview Tuesday, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Antonio Ybiernas told Philippine News Agency that a total of 235 households or 301 individuals were affected by the outbreak.
Five persons died while four others are currently admitted to various hospitals.
He said the water sample submitted to the Water Laboratory in Tagum City, Davao del Norte was found to contain bacteria that caused the diarrhea outbreak in the village.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1450227/cyberattacks-on-red-tagged-news-sites-traced-to-dost-army |
A recent series of cyberattacks to temporarily block access to the websites of two alternative news organizations and the human rights group Karapatan were traced to computer networks of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Philippine Army, according to a Swedish digital forensic group.
In its report, “Attacks against media in the Philippines continue,” published on Tuesday, Qurium Media Foundation said it recorded “brief but frequent” distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks against bulatlat.com, altermidya.org, and karapatan.org.
Bulatlat, Altermidya, and Karapatan have been red-tagged or vilified by state agents as fronts for the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army.
Army spokesperson Col. Ramon Zagala said the Philippine Army “respects freedom of expression and per policy, will never infringe that freedom.”
“We take these accusation of cyberattack seriously and we will not condone or tolerate it if such occurred against media entities. Rest assured we are servants of the people and protector of freedom of expression,” Zagala said.
DDOS stacks are child's play. It's literally what children on the internet do just for the laughs to mess up people they don't like. They don't accomplish anything except to anger the target. The Army denies that they made these attacks despite IP addresses tracing back to the military. Colonel Zavala's assurance that the military is the "protector of freedom of expression" is completely laughable in the face of the facts as the AFP accuses too many people of being communists and are often wrong.
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| https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/28/21/lorenzana-fires-military-intel-chief-over-false-tagging-of-up-alumni-as-npa-members |
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Thursday fired the deputy chief of staff for intelligence of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) over the release of a false list that tagged alumni of the University of the Philippines as members of the New People’s Army (NPA).
In a statement, Lorenzana said he relieved Maj. Gen. Alex Luna from his post effective Thursday due to his "unforgivable lapse."
"His negligence only shows a lackadaisical attitude towards his job resulting to confusion and damage to reputation. We do not take these offenses lightly and I want to hold the people involved accountable," said Lorenzana of Luna.
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