Duterte has warned that he will declare martial law if NPA attacks continue.
President Rodrigo Duterte warned of declaring martial law if “lawlessness” of, and disruption of aid delivery by members of the New People’s Army continue in this time of COVID-19 crisis.
In a public address aired Friday morning, Duterte said he is notifying the military and the police that he “might declare martial law,” citing a recent attack of the communist rebels against soldiers escorting aid distribution.
“Because in COVID [crisis], many are hungry, many could not eat...so the government will come in to help them. But these motherf*cker communists gunned them,” he added in Filipino.
While Duterte did not identify the area where the attack happened, Army officials said Tuesday night that two soldiers died in NPA attack in Aurora province.
Duterte said he is ordered the military to "kill" the NPA and he would "try to finish all of you" in his remaining two years of presidency.
“I might declare martial law and there will no turning back,” he added.
Duterte said in a mix of English and Filipino: “If you continue lawlessness, killing here and there, and it’s happening all over the Philippines, maybe I will declare martial law because you NPAs are number one, you take away help from people, supplies and their food.”
The president also warned “legal fronts” of the communist rebels that they should “hide.”
DILG Secretary and former AFP Chief Año agrees that martial law is a viable option against communist attacks.
Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año on Monday agreed that the declaration of martial law may be a viable option in the wake of recent violent incidents where New People’s Army (NPA) rebels attacked local officials and their personnel who were on relief distribution mission in the midst of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Año, in an interview with GMA 7, said leftist groups have taken advantage of the health crisis as attacks on government men and their escorts who were distributing social amelioration aid to residents affected by the health crisis were reported.
He said this is the reason why President Duterte is considering the possibility of declaring martial due to the persistent violent offensives of the rebel group on barangay officials and military personnel.
Año said that when the need to declare martial law arises, he will fully support the President’s
The President of the Senate, Tito Sotto, says the president has an obligation to declare
marital law if the rebellion continues.
“If NPA (New People’s Army) attacks persist and therefore rebellion continues in the midst of the pandemic, the President is obligated to declare ML (martial law),” Sotto told reporters in a Viber message on Friday.
NPA attacks have persisted and the rebellion has continued for 50 years now. Seems like a rather silly statement from Sotto. What's not silly is that the NPA still continues to clash with the AFP despite declaring a ceasefire which remains in effect until May 1.
Two soldiers were killed in an ambush by suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Aurora on Tuesday.
Pfcs. Ken Lester Sasapan and Jackson Mallari of the 91st Infantry Battalion (IB) were assisting in the distribution of cash assistance under the social amelioration program (SAP) to residents affected by the enhanced community quarantine due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Barangay Diaat in Maria Aurora town when they were waylaid.
Army spokesman Col. Ramon Zagala said three soldiers were also wounded in the ambush that triggered a gunfight that lasted for almost an hour.
“We mourn the death of Pfc. Sasapan and Pfc. Mallari whose demise were caused by the treachery of NPAs capitalizing on the assistance provided by soldiers to communities in line with the distribution of the SAP,” Army chief, Lt. Gen. Gilbert Gapay said yesterday.
On April 19th the AFP was attacked by the NPA as they were distributing goods in Himamaylan City.
Three Army soldiers, including a junior officer, were killed and four others were injured in an ambush staged by communist New People's Army gunmen in Himamaylan City in Negros Occidental Sunday morning.
Maj. Franco Ver Lopez, spokesman of the Army's 303rd Brigade, said the rebels first detonated an improvised bomb and lobbed grenades on the soldiers before exchanging gunfire.
Lopez said the firefight occurred at around 10 a.m. in Barangay Carabalan where troops from the Army's 94th Infantry Battalion were on security patrol in connection with the distribution of financial assistance under the government's Social Amelioration Program.
"They (the Army unit) received a series of reports regarding the presence of armed group who were conducting extortion activities in the communities forcing the people to give money and rice," said Lopez.
Less than a week later on April 24th in the same province but in the north in Victorias City the NPA attacked again.
Two soldiers were wounded in an encounter with suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Sitio Sicaba, Barangay Gawahon, Victorias City, Negros Occidental on Friday.
Acoording to a report from the 303rd IBde, troops of the 79th IB and personnel of the Sixth Special Action Force Battalion of the Philippine National Police (PNP) were conducting information dissemination among the residents in the area in connection with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic when they responded to the complaints of the people regarding the presence and alleged extortion activities of armed rebels.
While they were conducting community security patrol, the armed rebels allegedly fired at the law enforcers, which resulted in a 30-minute firefight.
Military troopers and policemen recovered from the encounter site some war materials, including two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) with blasting caps, a bandolier with five magazines for AK47, and another bandolier with two M16 magazines with ammunition, as well as two handheld radios with accessories, two cellular phones, a binocular, compass, four jungle packs, medicines, subversive documents, and other personal belongings.
Col. Inocencio Pasaporte, 303rd Infantry Brigade (IBde) commander, in a press statement, lambasted the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-NPA for its deliberate efforts to sabotage activities especially in disseminating health information to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the communities.
On Tuesday April 21st the AFP and NPA clashed in Zamboanga Sur.
Government troops recovered an improvised explosive device (IED), high-powered firearms, and other war materiel following a clash against a group of New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Zamboanga del Sur, officials said Wednesday.
Lt. Col. Manaros Boransing, the Army’s 97th Infantry Battalion commander, said the firefight broke out on Tuesday while the troops were responding to the reported presence of NPA rebels in Barangay Balukbahan, Bayog town.
“The locals are already complaining of the exploitation and abuse of the NPA, coercing them to provide money and food to feed the armed group while we’re on coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) crisis,” Boransing said.
He said the troops recovered an M16A1 assault rifle, an IED fashioned as a landmine, and other war materiel abandoned by the NPA rebels.
Three days later on Friday the 24th they clashed again in the same area.
A soldier was killed after government troops clashed anew against the communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Zamboanga del Sur, military officials said Friday.
Lt. Col. Manaros Boransing II, Army’s 97th Infantry Battalion commander, disclosed the firefight broke out around 7:40 a.m. Friday in Barangay Balukbahan, Bayog, Zamboanga del Sur.
Boransing withheld the identity of the slain soldier, who “was badly wounded during the encounter and expired around 10 a.m. during the emergency air evacuation by our Air Force and our military doctors”.
A pursuit operation has been launched, he said, "to neutralize the NPA rebels" who fled to different directions as the troops out-maneuvered them during the encounter.
If the AFP outmaneuvered the NPA rebels then how were they able to get away?
Back to back skirmishes between the AFP and NPA occurred on April 19th and 20th in Surigao del Norte and Agusan del Norte.
An alleged leader of the New People’s Army (NPA) was killed while a minor was rescued when skirmishes erupted between soldiers of the 29th Infantry Battalion and communist guerrillas in Surigao del Norte and Agusan del Norte on April 19 and 20.
Also, three NPAs were captured.
Lt Col. Ezra Balagtey, the spokesperson of Eastern Mindanao Command, said the slain rebel was Kevin Caballero alias Banjo, a known vice leader of the NPA. He also said that three other rebels were captured.
On Monday morning, elements of the 29th IB clashed with a group of NPA in Barangay Bangayan, Kitcharao, Agusan Del Norte during a hot pursuit operation. They recovered an M4 rifle with an attached M203 grenade launcher, subversive documents, and one landmine switch kit.
The pursuit came after elements of the same unit encountered more or less 20 NPAs at 5:30 a.m. of the same day in Barangay Bangayan, which resulted in the discovery of an NPA hideout, the capture of three suspected NPA members, and the rescue of a nine-year-old boy.
Another 15-minute skirmish followed at about 3 p.m. as the troops conducted a clearing operation, which led to the seizure of one AK-47 rifle.
While only one child solider was rescued in these clashes 5 were rescued
after a confrontation in Iloilo.
Five "child warriors" of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) were among the 11 captured individuals in an encounter between the Philippine Army and the rebels in Miagao, lloilo on Saturday, an Army commander has confirmed.
The Philippine Army’s 61st Infantry Battalion (61IB) under the 301st Infantry Brigade (301st IBde) said government troops have responded to persistent reports of locals that the CPP-NPA is conducting training of minor recruits at Sitio Anoy, Cabalaunan village, Miagao.
The blocking force of the Army has captured 11 rebels while one was killed in the 35-minute gun battle.
“For the captured, we have five minors. One of them is 14 years old; two are 15 years old; one is 16 years old, and the other one is 17 years old,” Col. Marion Sison, commander of the 301st IBde, told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) in a phone interview on Monday.
Sison confirmed that the five can be considered as "child warriors" as some of them are “newly recruited and some are armed already,” he said.
At one clash site the AFP noticed children looking on observing the fighting.
An Army official of the 103rd Infantry Brigade (103rd IBde) on Sunday called on the New People's Army (NPA) to allow children in their group to return to their respective families after two armed encounters that occurred on Saturday in Barangay Buntalis, Lumba-Bayabao town in Lanao del Sur.
Col. Jose Maria Cuerpo, the brigade commander, said during the clashes, government troops noticed that there were children looking on who they believed were not residents but likely relatives of the NPA fighters since the encounter site had no villages nearby.
"I'm calling (for these NPA fighters) to give these children to the nearby village leader so that we can help them return to their homes," he said.
The latest clashes at past 9 a.m. and past 2 p.m. resulted in the death of an NPA member. A report from the 1st Infantry Division’s Public Affairs Office said the government troops “out-maneuvered the 20 NPA members, whom the military labeled as terrorists, in their lair”.
The government forces seized three high-powered firearms, 36 sacks of rice and other war materiel from the rebel group, which, according to the military, is also operating in the hinterland boundaries of Bukidnon and this city.
No government soldier was wounded in the clashes but the military believed there were wounded rebels based on the bloodstains discovered in their withdrawal routes.
"Residents and concerned citizens reported the timely and accurate report that led to the encounter that favored the government troops," Cuerpo said.
He also said the armed men were the same group that conducted tactical offensives and previous ambuscades of government troops in Bukidnon near the boundary of Lanao del Sur province.
“They also threatened the front-liners who are helping the communities in defeating and mitigating the spread of Covid-19 disease,” Cuerpo said, referring to some atrocities in Luzon and Visayas areas.
Meanwhile, the slain NPA member was buried by soldiers in the area, according to Cuerpo.
"There are no residents in the area. The soldiers buried the dead enemy. It was a decent burial as respect to a human being," he said.
So 19 or 20 NPA fighters
were able to escape an AFP attack with their children in tow? And the AFP discovered their "withdrawl routes" but did not pursue? Did they let them get away on purpose? What is the AFP's protocol for pursuing fleeing terrorists? They could not have been retreating too fast if they had children with them.
Along
with employing child warriors the NPA also continues
to put everyone in danger by using landmines.
A top military official in Surigao del Norte has expressed alarm over the continued use of anti-personnel mines (APMs) by the communists New People’s Army (NPA).
Lt. Col. Jeffrey A Villarosa, commander of the Army's 30th Infantry Battalion (30IB), said the recent recovery of APMs in a remote barangay in Surigao del Norte only proves the continuing use of APMs by the rebels.
Villarosa reiterated that APMs pose danger to the lives of residents in the area.
Government troops recovered two APMs last Sunday following an encounter with NPA rebels in Barangay Camam-onan, Guigaquit, Surigao del Norte.
“We received reports from concerned citizens that CNTs (Communist NPA Terrorists) were conducting extortion and recruitment activities in their community,” Villarosa said.
Aside from the APMs, government soldiers also recovered bomb-making materials, ammunition, and subversive documents.
“I commend the boldness of concerned citizens for timely sending us information that led to this encounter. It is just sad to note that in the midst of our efforts in making our communities free from the 2019 coronavirus disease (Covid19), the CNTs continue to pursue their selfish agenda by forcing the civilians to gather to listen to their propaganda," Villarosa said.
He also condemned the continued use of APM by the NPA, saying the use of this war materiel is contrary to the provisions of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL).
Last year, Quilang said a total of 18 APMs were recovered by government troops in the province.
In addition to the NPA the AFP is still fighting with Abu Sayyaf. Last week 12 soldiers were killed in a clash in Sulu. This week 6 ASG terrorists were killed in a second clash in Sulu.
Six Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) bandits were killed while eight soldiers wounded after a firefight broke out anew in the military's continuing offensives in the province of Sulu, officials said Thursday.
Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, commander of the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), said the firefight broke out around 6 p.m. Wednesday in Barangay Latih, Patikul, Sulu.
Sobejana said the 34-minute clash ensued as the troops chanced upon a group of Abu Sayyaf bandits while conducting combat operation.
The troops launched an "all-out offensive" against the ASG bandits after the April 17 firefight that resulted in the death of 12 soldiers and the wounding of 12 others in Sitio Bud Lubong, Barangay Danag, Patikul.
“We are sustaining our focused military operations in Sulu to finish the Abu sayyaf Group and bring about peace in the said province,” Sobejana said
ASG and the BIFF continue to pose problems for the AFP. They also are connected with ISIS. This week the AFP brushed aside a message about impending ISIS attacks as fake news.
The military has brushed aside a supposed warning about impending attacks by Islamic State (IS) militants that has gone viral.
Major Arvin John Encinas, spokesperson of the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), said the message was meant to instill fear and confusion, as the country is preoccupied in the fight against the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Encinas said that the supposed threat is “recycled,” noting that these circulated in 2017, even before the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law.
While the threats may be recycled and filed with wrong information the AFP might want to still take the threat seriously.
THE unenviable role of soldiers as frontliners in the fight to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) may have been deceitfully used by the Islamic State (IS) to unify warring factions of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in Sulu and align these previously disparate bands with the international terrorist group.
The recent firefight in the province, which pitted Army troops against fighters under two of the most senior and notorious terrorist leaders in Sulu, seems to support the assertion that IS may have completed its goal to recruit the entire ASG under its wings.
Last week’s battle, where 11 soldiers were killed and 14 others wounded, was waged on the other side by around 40 combined fighters under Radullan Sahiron, the “emir” of the ASG, and Hatib Hadjan Sawadjaan, leader of the IS in Mindanao.
For Sahiron and Sawadjaan to collaborate and work together, along with their men, is seen as a “worrisome” development in the government’s effort to counter the IS’s recruitment of local members and stop its terrorist activities in the country.
The alignment, or recruitment, of Sahiron and his men into the IS jibed with a report of the United States in December last year about the resurgence of the IS terror activities and its recruitment in Mindanao.
The report, issued by the Lead Inspector General for the Operation Pacific Eagle-Philippines (OPE-P), the US counterterrorism program in the country, noted IS’s stepped up and sustained recruitment effort, including from the ranks of displaced Marawi City residents.
The US report also raised the possibility that the IS and its aligned groups could stage a “high-profile operation” similar to the Marawi siege if the recruitment is not derailed decisively, and soon.
Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) commander Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana has ordered a fresh offensive against the combined Sahiron-Sawadjaan group as part of the sustained operations against the ASG in Sulu in the aftermath of the latest clash.
The gunbattle, where three of the slain soldiers were also beheaded, lent credence to the belief that Sawadjaan may have been successful in recruiting Sahiron and his men into the IS fold while the military is busy helping in the fight against the pandemic.
A purported video of the firefight—showing a terrorist beheading a dead soldier—flashed a foreign-looking fighter among the terrorists.
Sobejana said no more than 200 ASG members still operate in Sulu.
The Sulu-based 11th Infantry Division said it is now fighting the twin strains of terrorism and the coronavirus in the province, both equally deadly, and giving soldiers no room to be complacent.
Two warring factions of Abu Sayyaf have now been united making for a deadly and worrisome development
in the AFP's fight
against terrorism. Whatever this means it does not bode well. Is it really just a coincidence that after the firefight between ASG and the AFP that threats of an ISIS attack began circulating online? Real or not that message should be taken seriously.
The AFP remains hard at work across the nation. Many barangay captains in metro Manila have requested their assistance in enforcing the quarantine.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is being flooded with requests from Metro Manila barangay captains needing additional troops to help them enforce the government-declared enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in their respective communities.
Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo, AFP spokesman, said local governments – in particular, Quezon City, Parañaque, Mandaluyong and the municipality of Pateros – have asked the AFP leadership for additional troops.
“If we are going to base on the requests received by AFP, we can say that barangay captains in whole of Metro Manila are asking the AFP for more troops to enforce provisions of the ECQ,” Arevalo said.
Currently, he said on top of the regular troops, around 800 military reservists have volunteered to render COVID-19 duties in Metro Manila.
Arevalo said 500 of these reservists, all under the supervision of regular military members, are currently deployed in Quezon City and Manila, while 300 others are helping enforce quarantine in the cities of Parañaque and Pasay.
The AFP likewise deployed 15 additional military vehicles installed with loudspeakers for deployment on major city streets, as well as secondary and community roads, to remind the general public to strictly enforce physical distancing and observe the enforced curfews in their respective communities so as to prevent the spread of the virus.
“This is but one of the many steps that the AFP is taking in line with an enhanced visibility of our soldiers in support of our colleagues in the Philippine National Police, apart from what our soldiers are doing in COVID-19 quarantine checkpoints,” Arevalo said.
The enhanced community quarantine and lockdown in metro Manila has been extended for another two weeks until May 15th. Perhaps it will be extended again. Whatever the case the AFP remains on the frontline enforcing the quarantine and fighting terrorists.
