Victorious NPA Offensives
Air Force lieutenant killed in Batangas encounter
A Philippine Air Force (PAF) lieutenant was killed while two other soldiers were wounded in an encounter with a New People's Army (NPA) unit on February 22 in Barangay Cumba, Lian, Batangas. 1Lt. Moreno Corbito was leading a nine-man patrol of the PAF 730th Combat Group when an NPA sniper hit him.
Corbito's group was part of a composite force of the PAF 730th Combat Group and the Batangas PNP's 401st and 402nd Provincial Mobile Group. They were on patrol in Barangay Cumba when the fighting began at around 6:30 a.m.
Enraged over their defeat, the military began shooting at civilians, killing two who they claimed were NPA guerrillas. Two other civilians were arbitrarily arrested and accused of being NPA fighters. They have since been illegally detained at the Air Force Base in Nasugbu, according to KARAPATAN-Batangas. The military troops also razed two houses in the barrio.
The incidents of violence have forced the villagers in four barrios of Lian (Cumba, Puting Kahoy, Umayingan and Kapito) to flee their farms and homes and settle close to the highway.
The intensive military operations in the four villages are the regime's response to the people's opposition to the planned San Miguel Complex, a project of the big bourgeois comprador Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco. The people are also opposing the establishment of a cement plant in their area.
2 soldiers killed, 3 wounded in Misamis Occidental ambush
Two soldiers were killed and three others were wounded in an NPA ambush on February 28 in Sapang Dalaga, Misamis Occidental.
The guerrillas ambushed a Philippine Army jeep carrying soldiers from the 10th IB led by Lt. Col. Pedro Andanar at around 10:00 a.m. Among those killed was 1Lt. Asangi Tumpilan.
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