Armed struggle reaps victories nationwide
NPA raids 74th IB detachment in Quezon
The New People's Army's Maria Theresa de Leon in Far South Quezon launched a successful raid on the detachment of the 74th IB in Barangay Abuyon, San Narciso, Quezon on October 4.
Contrary to reports from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that the sole enemy casualty was a CAFGU element who was killed, 11 soldiers died and five were wounded out of the 18-man detachment.
In an open letter dated October 6, the NPA belied military reports in the media that the raid targeted the nearby Keangnam Construction Company. The NPA said it had no reason to undertake punitive measures against the company.
The NPA suffered no casualties and no civilians were caught in the crossfire.
The NPA said that residents had long been demanding punishment for the 74th IB for its many crimes against the people of the Bondoc Peninsula.
Occidental Mindoro police chief punished
A six-man NPA team meted punishment last October 17 on SPO4 Christopher Pacaul, PNP chief of Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro. This ended his long record of human rights violations. Seized from Pacaul was his 9 mm pistol.
NPA launches successful counter-ambush against RHB
Six elements of the Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan (RHB) bandit group were killed in a counter-ambush by the NPA on the night of October 17 in Kalagiman, Samal, Bataan.
A 15-man unit of the RHB had positioned itself inside a hut alongside a road that would have been traversed by a vehicle ridden by comrades who had just conducted a mass meeting in the barrio. As a precautionary measure against possible ambuscades, however, the comrades chose not to ride a vehicle and instead crossed a rice-field towards the hut where the RHB had taken position.
Although it was the RHB that first opened fire, the comrades were quickly able to return fire. No one was hurt on the NPA side. The fighting lasted 30 minutes.
The following day, the RHB returned to the barrio to terrorize the villagers anew. But the masses flatly repudiated them, saying that they would support only the Party and the NPA.
Destructive quarry activities in Bulacan meted punishment
The NPA took action against the destructive sand quarrying businesses along the Angat River in eastern Bulacan on September 25. Red fighters destroyed big quarrying equipment, including bulldozers and cranes.
The people of Angat are strongly opposed to quarrying because it has dried up sources of irrigation water for about a thousand hectares of farmland as well as sources of drinking water for thousands of families in the area.
The quarrying activities went on despite repeated petitions and mass protest actions. The capitalists behind the quarrying are in cahoots with local government officials. The masses had no other recourse but to seek help from the NPA, which promptly acted on their complaints.
Meanwhile, the NPA launched a successful attack on the headquarters of the 306th Provincial Mobile Group (PMG) in Sampaloc, San Rafael, Bulacan on September 30. It was close to midnight when Red fighters surprised the PMG elements who were then gambling. At least six policemen were wounded in the raid.
The police troopers led by Col. Fernando Villanueva in collusion with Gov. Josie dela Cruz, were punished for their long record of violence and destruction against the people.
7 firearms confiscated in Samar
The NPA seized two M16s, five .45 pistols, magazines and ammunition in three separate offensives launched in Samar in August and September. The operations targeted the PNP and the Philippine Army Engineering Battalion. The offensives were conducted by the Sergio Lobina Command in Barangay Natividad, San Policarpio, Eastern Samar; and by other NPA units in Bugtong, Tinambacan District, Calbayog City; and Barangay Dolores, Las Navas, Northern Samar.
Camp owned by criminal Abra mayor torched
Red fighters under the NPA Agustin Begnalen Command burned a camp owned by Mayor Clarence "Boyet" Benwaren, a notorious criminal and warlord in Tineg, Abra. Two small buildings and three huts were torched on September 12 as a punitive measure against the Benwaren family's brutality against the townsfolk.
The Ben's Vera camp serves as a sanctuary for the Benwarens' armed men, Philippine Army troops and military intelligence agents. It is also used for the illegal logging activities of the Benwaren family and elements of the 17th IB.
Benwaren was killed on October 29 in Calauan, Laguna by men believed to have been hired by his political rivals.
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