News
BRIGADE COMMANDER, 12 SOLDIERS KILLED IN ISABELA AMBUSH
A Philippine Army brigade commander and 12 other soldiers were killed when their convoy was ambushed by the New People�s Army (NPA) on June 27 along the boundaries of Barangay Linomot and Barangay Sta. Isabel in Jones, Isabela. Col. Josefino Manayao, 502nd Infantry Brigade commander and another soldier died in hospital while 11 others, including 54th IB executive officer 2Lt. Wilfredo Estanislao, died on the spot. Manayao and Estanislao are both Philippine Military Academy graduates.
The offensive was signalled with the detonation of an explosive charge that hit a truck at the tail end of the convoy of five military vehicles. Confiscated from the ambush were 11 M16 rifles and one M203 grenade launcher.
According to the NPA Benito Tesorio Command in Isabela, the notorious 502nd Brigade is responsible for widespread human rights violations, including the torture and salvaging of suspected revolutionaries and the bombing and forced evacuation of entire communities in Isabela.
7 SOLDIERS, 1 CAFGU KILLED IN SAMAR AMBUSH
Seven Philippine Army soldiers and a CAFGU element were killed while another one was wounded in an ambush by Red fighters in Maslog, Eastern Samar. The ambush was launched on June 15 at around 10 a.m. The ambushed troops were among a 10-man composite team under the 14th IB.
DESPOTIC LANDLORD PUNISHED IN LEYTE
NPA guerrillas meted out revolutionary justice on a despotic landlord in Leyte on June 12. Joaquin Labra had just visited his sugar plantation and was aboard his jeep on his way home when ambushed by NPA fighters in Barangay Natugban, Kananga.
Labra was punished because of his grave crimes against the people, among them being the mastermind in the murder of Reynaldo Villota on August 22, 1999. Labra was also guilty of several counts of landgrabbing as well as harassment and intimidation of farmers defending their land rights.
PUNITIVE ACTION LAUNCHED IN BOHOL
Red fighters punished the AER Construction Inc., a subcontractor of a Japanese company in Barangay Imelda, Ubay, Bohol.
At around 7 p.m. on June 23, the people�s army raided the company motorpool within the compound of the National Power Corporation. The guerrillas were able to enter without difficulty because they fooled the guards into believing that they were government soldiers conducting operations in the area. Heavy equipment were burned, including two dump trucks, a cement mixer and a bucket truck. Total damage to the company was estimated to have reached P3 million.
Before they retreated, the Red fighters introduced themselves and explained to the guards and company workers the basis of the punitive action.
NPA RAIDS SMART CELL SITE IN QUEZON
NPA guerrillas swiftly assaulted on May 19 a Smart Communications cell site in Villapadua, Gumaca, Quezon at 12:45 noon.
A lone company guard was disarmed. The guardhouse, a communication van, two generators along with the latter�s stockroom were burned. Damage to the company amounted to almost P1 million. The punitive action was launched because of the company�s stubborn refusal to adhere to revolutionary policies being implemented by the movement in the area.
MACHINE GUN, 2 RIFLES CONFISCATED IN SURIGAO AMBUSH
A squad of security guards and Philippine Army soldiers patrolling the interior areas of Tago, Surigao del Sur were ambushed by NPA Red fighters on May 13. Surigao Development Corporation security guards and the military regularly conduct joint patrols in the area. They connive in harassing and abusing company workers and people living near the company premises.
A corporal and two guards were killed while a sergeant was wounded and a machine gun and two rifles were confiscated in the offensive. Meanwhile, a sparrow operation was launched in Surigao City on May 19. Punished were two abusive policemen, SPO1 Petronilo Quiban and SPO1 Rodrigo Rufin.
TWO CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES IN NUEVA ECIJA PUNISHED
NPA fighters conducted separate raids on the depots of two huge construction companies in San Jose City in May.
On May 20, the NPA launched a swift assault on the depot of a Korean construction company. A 10-wheeler truck was burned.
Meanwhile, the JTY Construction Corp. was also punished on May 1 at around 11 p.m. Disarmed were two security guards of the company owned by Juanito Ty, a contractor of the Casecnan Multipurpose Irrigation and Electricity projects. A Hyundai payloader and a dump truck were burned. Damage was placed at P700,000. Three handheld radios and two cal .38 pistols were confiscated.
The companies were punished for ignoring the revolutionary movement�s existing taxation policies. JTY Construction Corp. is also responsible for the unpaid wages of its aggrieved workers.
RELEASE OF 2 PRISONERS DEMANDED BY GREEKS
More than 150 people from Athens and Sparta, Greece demanded the release of Leonardo Pitao (Ka Parago) and other political prisoners in the Philippines. In a statement released on June 26 and 27, the Greeks also denounced rising repression in the Philippines amid the worsening socio-economic crisis and intensifying exploitation of the Filipino people by foreign monopoly capitalists.
Pitao is only one of more than 200 political prisoners arrested without warrant, illegally detained, tortured and charged with criminal offenses in the first two years of the Estrada regime. Meantime, 148 Greeks also called for the immediate release of 12-year-old Edfu dela Cruz. They signed a statement issued in Athens on June 27 by A/Synechia, a revolutionary organization in Greece.
Edfu, whose mother and father were both NPA fighters, was captured by the military on March 12 in Bontoc, Leyte after a fi refi ght where his parents, sister and two others were killed. The Department of Social Welfare and Development has been forcibly holding Edfu instead of transferring him to the custody of his grandmother.
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