The AFP's systematic lies
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) systematically spins yarns to deceive the people on the true course of its armed encounters with the New People's Army (NPA).
Since last year, the AFP has been distorting facts and coming up with accounts that are the exact opposite of what actually transpired in order to conceal its losing course and show that it has the upper hand against the NPA, if only in its propaganda.
Manufacturers of media releases within the AFP may be regarded as disciples of the fascist Adolf Hitler's chief propagandist Joseph Goebbels. According to Goebbels, lies become truths if they are told repeatedly. Today, one does not have to look far to see the new Goebbelses. He is embodied by the professional propagandists and psy-war experts of the AFP, who hope that with enough repetition, the public will be conditioned to accept the AFP's lies�hook, line and sinker.
Yarn spinning is usually done at the highest levels of the military leadership, such as the brigade, division and regional commands, if not at the level of the AFP national command.
On July 4, 2003, 7th ID chief Maj. Gen. Alfredo Braganza made it appear that at least three NPA fighters were killed and many more were wounded when an NPA unit encountered over 80 troops of the 79th IB and police in Barangay Batang II, Sasmuan, Pampanga. The truth: the supposed picture of dead Red fighters shown to the media was that of the bodies of two soldiers killed in the firefight. The third body, alleged to be that of a Red fighter who was shot while fleeing, was that of Mauricio Miranda, a 40-year-old fisherman from Sapang Kawayan, Masantol, Pampanga who was on his way home when chanced upon by soldiers in the nearby river. The Red fighters who emerged from the fighting unscathed had already been resting in a safe area when they heard Miranda and his two companions being shot at. The soldiers stole Miranda's fish catch and hid his wrecked dugout canoe from the media.
The 5th ID came up with an even bigger distortion in its account of the fighting that took place in Sitio Curawitan, Barangay Binatog, San Mariano, Isabela on October 25, 2003. According to the 5th ID, six Red fighters were killed in the firefight. The truth: 22 soldiers were killed and two were seriously wounded in two hours of fighting. The NPA had practically wiped out the 33-man contingent from the 53rd Recon Coy and 45th IB.
The NPA once again inflicted several casualties on the same enemy units on March 19, 2004 when nine soldiers from a 15-man AFP patrol were killed in Barangay Dicamay Uno, Jones, Isabela.
On the 14th of March, 1st ID deputy chief, Col. Roland Rodriguez boasted that the 10th IB sustained zero casualties when it fought the NPA for over two hours in Lower Bautista, Sapang Dalaga, Misamis Occidental. The truth: at least four soldiers were killed and three were wounded in the firefight that lasted about 45 minutes.
In Eastern Visayas, 8th ID chief Maj. Gen. Glen Rabonza bragged that seven guerrillas were killed when the 20th IB assaulted an NPA camp in Barangay Palanit, San Isidro, Northern Samar on May 5. The truth: six to eight soldiers were killed and five were wounded while the NPA sustained not a single casualty.
In Southern Tagalog, Southern Luzon Unified Command public information officer Maj. Jose Broso reported only one soldier killed and three wounded in an encounter between the 74th IB and an NPA unit in Barangay Nanadiego, Mulanay, Quezon on June 16, with the NPA allegedly sustaining an undetermined number of casualties. The truth: 15 enemy troops were killed and an undetermined number were wounded in this firefight. One NPA Red fighter was killed.
In other instances, the AFP tries to hide the fact that firefights have taken place at all, out of extreme embarrassment. News about the encounters eventually leak out, however.
In Western Visayas, 303rd Brigade chief Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sodusta at first kept mum on the fighting on June 12 in Guihulngan, Negros Oriental. Later, however, he boastfully claimed that only one sergeant was killed while an undetermined number of Red fighters were killed and wounded in the 11th IB's assault on an NPA camp. The truth: eight were killed and seven wounded on the enemy side, and one Red fighter was martyred.
In North Central Mindanao, the 401st Brigade refused at first to issue a statement when troops of the 41st and 42nd Scout Ranger Coy fought it out with an NPA unit in Sitio Balacatan, Guinabsan, Buenavista, Agusan del Norte on August 5. It turned out that the AFP lost even though it initiated the firefight that took place near the Training Area of the 4th ID in Mayapay, Buenavista. Later, the 401st Bde announced that five soldiers had been killed, with many guerrillas dead and wounded in the military's continuing pursuit of the NPA. The truth: eight troops were killed and nine high-powered firearms were seized by the NPA from the enemy. A Red fighter was killed in the fighting.
One of the AFP's most recent outright prevarications was its claim of having crushed the revolutionary movement in Camarines Sur. In its desperate bid to recover from a successful NPA ambush on the 42nd IB on March 1 in Barangay Bataan, Tinambac, Camarines Sur, where three troopers were killed and two soldiers were taken as prisoners of war, at least 15 unarmed civilians have since been summarily executed by the military in the towns of Tinambac, Goa and Lagonoy in the same province. Meanwhile, after refusing for several months to negotiate with the NDFP for the POWs' safe and orderly release, AFP spokesperson Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero and Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita categorically denied the existence of the agreements reached by the two parties in July, particularly regarding the suspension of offensive military operations in Albay and Camarines Sur. The POWs' release was thus postponed several times.
The AFP is making a huge mistake by worshipping Goebbels, whose views obviously heap scorn on the people's ability to think and analyze. The AFP possesses the same outlook on the Filipino people�that they are ignorant, uncritical, and could easily be made fools of. But no matter how many times the AFP spins its yarns, it can never win over or deceive a people who are aware of the truth. On the contrary, it is a people whose consciousness has been raised who firmly take a stand and resolutely wage resistance.
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