News of Struggle
Compostela Valley cop disarmed
A policeman was disarmed by NPA fighters in Barangay Langgam, Maco, Compostela Valley in the evening of January 30.
The Red fighters took advantage of the fact that SPO4 Ernesto Cudal was resting in his house. Startled when the NPA approached him, Cudal had no choice but to surrender his .45 and cellphone. The fighters even talked Cudal into driving them to the highway using his own jeepney.
CAFGU detachment in Sarangani raided
Five M14s, four Garand rifles and communications equipment were seized by Red fighters when they raided a CAFGU detatchment in Barangay Kenam, Malapatan, Sarangani on January 29. With the help of a CAFGU ally, the NPA successfully carried out the raid against the detachment guarded by a lone AFP soldier and two CAFGU elements.
Tactical offensives continue in Bicol
Thirteen firearms of assorted caliber were confiscated and nine enemy troops were killed in six separate tactical offensives by the New People�s Army (NPA) in Bicol this January and in the last days of the past month, according to a correspondence report from the Romulo Jallores Command of Bicol.
On January 29, a policeman was killed while another was seriously wounded in an ambush by NPA fighters in Barangay Mercedes, Pilar, Sorsogon. An NPA team punished on January 10, Roberto San Agustin, a CAFGU element under the notorious 42nd IB in Barangay Beguito Biejo, Libmanan, Camarines Sur. Aside from having been the foremost tong collector, San Agustin also recruited informers and directly served as a guide in military operations against the NPA. A .38 pistol was seized from him.
According to the same correspondence report, an NPA team burned a Superlines bus on January 4 in Sinuknipan, Del Gallego, Camarines Sur because of the company�s continued refusal to pay revolutionary tax.
Two elements of the "A" coy of the 22nd IB were punished by an NPA team in Barangay Banquerohan, Legazpi City on December 31, 2000. Sgt. Alfredo Paitan and PFC Alex Vivar died on the spot. A .45 and a .38 were confiscated from them.
The Romulo Jallores Command also said that the NPA conducted simultaneous raids against three PNP elements and a despotic landlord in Camarines Norte on December 28, 2000.
The NPA meted the death penalty on despotic and criminal landlord Francisco "Ike" Villafuerte, a relative of Gov. Luis Villafuerte of Camarines Sur. Villafuerte was notorious for grabbing a piece of land that was being cultivated by 48 families and was responsible for the destruction and burning of property and the mauling, incarceration and summary execution of farmers. He was also an agent of the Military Intelligence Group and directly coordinated with the head of the division operating in Bicol. Three .45s, two grenades and other military equipment were confiscated from him.
SPO4 Anatolio "Hudas" Villablanco, an element of the Jose Panganiban police force, was the second target. Villablanco was despotic and proven to have gravely wronged the revolutionary movement and the people. He was meted the death penalty that same morning in Sta. Elena, Jose Panganiban, Camarines Norte. An M16 rifle and a .38 pistol were seized from him.
One M16 rifle, one .38 pistol, ammunition and other military equipment were confiscated from the houses of two other policemen in the same area.
Meanwhile, the Masbate NPA punished on December 25, 2000 SPO3 Edwin Espiloy and his brother SPO1 Efrahem Espiloy, both notorious elements of the Monreal police force in Masbate, at their residence in Barangay Real, Monreal. An M14 rifle, one 9 mm revolver and a .38 pistol were seized from them.
A three-man team of the NPA also punished the treacherous and abusive Edwin Nacional, president of the Balikloob Foundation Inc., on December 22, 2000 at Marquez Street, Barangay 14, Legazpi City. The Balikloob Foundation Inc. is an instrument of the reactionary government to facilitate the surrender of NPA fighters and cadres and urge them to become intelligence agents for the fascist army.
Macapagal-Arroyo regime challenged; Talks with RPMP-RPA-ABB, condemned in Negros
Former peace talks consultant Jessie Lipura challenged the Macapagal-Arroyo regime to implement a pro-people program and condemned its plan to hold talks with the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa-Pilipinas- Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPMP-RPA-ABB).
Lipura, who was captured on January 6 in Barangay Taloc, Bago City, Negros Occidental and temporarily freed on bail on January 30, was interviewed by the media upon his release.
According to Lipura, the people are expecting the Macapagal-Arroyo regime to lay down its much-vaunted people�s agenda which includes the resumption of peace talks between the GRP and the NDFP and the release of all political prisoners.
Lipura said that the Arroyo government should immediately abandon the former US-Estrada regime�s Oplan Makabayan program and pull out its military troops in Mindanao and other parts of the country in order to put an end to all-out war and intensive militarization in the countryside. The deployment of military troops in the countryside, he said, is not the solution to society�s fundamental problems, but instead wreaks havoc on the people. "It is the military that commits human rights violations," Lipura said.
He also strongly condemned the planned resumption of peace talks between the GRP and the counterrevolutionary RPMP-RPA-ABB. He said: "The only one who could benefit from such talks is former Ambassador Eduardo Cojuangco Jr." He also added that the RPMP-RPA-ABB are not protectors of the masses and are in fact paid goons of Cojuangco.
21st IB soldier killed in encounter
A corporal of the 21st IB was killed and five others were wounded when they encountered an NPA team in Barangay Salecsec, Balbalan, Kalinga on January 22. The military troops were conducting a military operation when the Red fighters fired at them.
Series of protests launched in Payatas
The Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (KADAMAY) and July 10 Payatas Victims� Organization (J10PVO) trooped to the Quezon City Hall on January 29 to oppose the city government�s grant of a permit for garbage to be dumped again in Payatas upon orders of Mayor Ismael Mathay Jr. despite the absence of relocation for the thousands of families residing and making a living in the area. The picket was part of a series of mass actions launched on January 15 by the KADAMAY and the J10PVO to resist the hazardous dumping of garbage in Payatas, where hundreds were killed when a mountain of garbage collapsed in July 2000 and again, on January 26.
Massacre of Tarlac-14 condemned
Comrade Serafin Magdiwang, spokesperson of NPA-Tarlac condemned the gruesome killing by the fascist AFP and PNP of 14 Red fighters and cadres of the revolutionary movement on January 15 at Barangay San Vicente, only a few kilometers away from Tarlac City. In a statement, Magdiwang said that most of the victims had been shot in the head.
RHB, murderer of innocents
Jose Agtalon, spokesperson of the Josepino Corpuz Command of the NPA, strongly condemned the summary execution of civilians Eric "Ricky" Canlas, Jesse Bagtas and Noel dela Cruz by elements of the Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan (RHB). Canlas was a DSWD volunteer and an officer of Pampanga Radio Communication in Barangay San Antonio, Mexico, Pampanga. He was executed by the RHB shortly before the end of the year 2000 because of suspicion that he was a supporter of the NPA. Bagtas and dela Cruz were killed by the RHB on December 18. They were both ordinary fish vendors in the area.
Batangas defensive transformed into offensive by NPA
A defensive situation was transformed into an offensive by the NPA when a group of Red fighters repulsed the attempt of Philippine Marine elements to encircle them in Sitio Nangkaan, Barangay Mataas na Pulo, Nasugbu, Batangas on January 7. The Red fighters killed two Marine soldiers while another soldier and a policeman were wounded in the 30-minute firefight. An M14 was seized from the dead soldier. To conceal their embarassment, the Marines called the incident an "encounter".
Hacienda in San Narciso, Quezon, raided
NPA fighters burned on December 30, equipment and vehicles owned by Domingo Reyes, a landlord who persistently refused to pay revolutionary taxes and grabbed land from farmers. Reyes also owns the Ocean Palace Mall in Lucena City and Viva Shipping Lines, which regularly plies the Marinduque-Lucena route.
Among the pieces of equipment that were put to the torch were seven vehicles (four dump trucks, one firetruck, a tractor and a backhoe) and other machinery owned by the hacienda.
| 
