Punitive operation against Aguinaldo:
No reactionary fortress is impregnable to the revolution

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

The successful punitive operation against Colonel Aguinaldo proves that no matter how much the people's enemies wrap themselves in the thickest of armor, there will always be a way for the arrows of revolutionary justice to pierce through their defenses.

Thus, the meting out of punishment on Aguinaldo has sent shivers down the spine of reactionaries and fascists guilty of the most serious crimes against the people. Never again could they sleep soundly. No reactionary fortress is impregnable to the revolution.

The successful operation launched by the Fortunato Camus Command is an inspiration to all revolutionaries, especially to NPA fi ghters. It is especially relevant to study and draw lessons from the punitive operation against Aguinaldo in order to mete justice on others guilty of grave crimes against the people.

Aguinaldo's fortress

Aguinaldo knew that he was guilty of many grievous crimes, especially against the masses and the revolutionary movement, and that this would cost him his life. Thus, he was always careful about his personal safety and his movements.

Wherever he went, he always had with him his personal bodyguards, including armed police and military personnel. During the election period from April to May, he had eight armed goons from Bataan, fi ve SWAT elements armed with M14s and M16s aside from a team of policemen who guarded him round the clock even inside his house. He hardly went to the barrios to campaign.

He had people in his payroll to do this for him. Once, he briefl y attended a meeting in a barrio in Tuguegarao City at the height of his campaign, but he spoke only for a few moments. He then hurriedly left for fear that he would be targetted by his rival.

In previous elections, Aguinaldo campaigned while aboard armored personnel carriers, with several AFP, PNP and CAFGU companies because he feared being targetted by a sparrow unit, or ambushed or sniped at by the NPA or his political rivals.

He transferred from one residence to another in Manila, Ilocos and Cagayan. Even in Cagayan, Aguinaldo lived in more than one house. He always had an armed bodyguard with him, even while entering and coming out of the door.

He positioned himself in an apartment that was only spitting distance from the police station at the Tuguegarao City Hall (near the end of the road was the headquarters of the 111th PNP Company, 200 meters from the apartment).

There was no other entrance to or exit from the apartments in the area aside from a small alley whose gate was always closed and watched by his bodyguards. From the gate, anyone entering the small wall leading to Aguinaldo's apartment at the end of the alley would be confronted by two big dogs. He hardly came out. But nary a week would pass before he would transfer to another house.

He had paid informers spread out around the neighborhood who would harass anyone new who happened to come around. Two old women from Tuao who carried bags and came over to visit their townmate who owned an apartment in the alley were harassed by Aguinaldo himself. He ransacked their bags and accused them of being informers of his rival Manuel Mamba of Tuao. He was always shouting at and harassing his neighbors, earning the ire of those who lived in the same alley. Mamba had said that even Aguinaldo's neighbors in the nearby apartments would not vote for him.

For a long time, Aguinaldo boasted and propagated as part of his psywar tactics, that he could never be defeated by his enemies, not even by the revolutionary forces, that he was "loved by the masses", that he was a "friend of the NPA" and that he had an amulet.

Through the large eye of a needle

No matter how careful Aguinaldo was, he nonetheless had weaknesses. The NPA forces who cased him easily found this out, as they were Marxists who used dialectical materialist analysis.

Aguinaldo's record revealed that he had never had experience in close quarter combat and that the only NPA fi ghters and Party cadres he had encountered up close were in handcuffs or had already surrendered to him. He was good at waging psywar but not in combat. Once, when his car passed by Baybayog, Alcala on market day and made a temporary stop, Aguinaldo fainted when a farmer who was carrying a bayong came close to the car and was mistaken for a member of an NPA sparrow unit who had come to punish him.

In his attempt to live in different residences and his refusal to stay long in any place, the pattern of his movements was more easily determined. After a period of observation, the operatives were able to detect the pattern of his departure and return, on what days and at what times these were, who his companions were, who he would come home to, who his bodyguards were, what sort of weapons they carried, how he exited and entered, where he parked his cars, how far away his guards were and their reasons for harassing strangers in the vicinity. They were able to estimate how far the fighter-operative would be from Aguinaldo, how many seconds the firefight would likely last.

A strong and sure refuge for Aguinaldo was his apartment on Magallanes, a street in Tuguegarao, because it was near an enemy camp, had only one entry and exit point and was on a narrow alley. He had stayed here for 10 years because he felt secure. He and his men continued to harass, surveil and question everyone who came in and Aguinaldo's bodyguards were constantly found inside and around his apartment. Nonetheless, they could not stop people from renting a neighboring apartment. It was here that a team from the Fortunato Camus Command positioned itself.

After placing him under surveillance and having him in the bag, so to speak, it was easy enough to plan a small unit operation. Within the designated 24-hour waiting period, an NPA team was able to punish Aguinaldo while he was about to pass through the fence of his apartment. In a span of a few seconds, Rodolfo Aguinaldo had fallen, including his aide who tried to fight it out. Two other armed guards at the other side of the fence came to the rescue. But the comrades were able to evade them by playing a ruse and leaving the site fast.

In a few moments, the numerous checkpoints set up by the enemy had become ineffectual. Because they had cased their target well, had access to detailed information and made quick observations and analyses of new data, the concept for the operation was easily determined and refi ned, along with the combat tactics and rehearsal of the operatives. They pinpointed the time and place where they could use the element of surprise, have local superiority and execute precise and quick movements for the offense, be assured of total victory in punishing Aguinaldo and ensure the safe retreat of the entire force from under the ene- my's nose.

Meanwhile, the masses and other forces it had linked up with were able to fi ll up whatever the team had lacked. It was on them that the team relied from start to finish. T he NPA had once more shown its capability to "pass through the eye of a needle" or "enter and leave the crocodile's mouth" to fulfill its duties to the masses and the revolution.

Aguinaldo's punishment is a brilliant victory of the people and the revolutionary movement in the region and the entire country.

Nonetheless, there are many other rabid fascists like him who have yet to pay for their blood debts against the revolutionary movement and the people, for the torture, summary exceutions, harassment and other human rights violations perpetrated since the Marcos dictatorship. Foremost among them are the Marcoses. Also included are their ilk in the PC/INP, AFP, NICA/NISA (National Intelligence Coordinating Agency/Natio nal Intelligence Security Agency), DND and other sections of the reactionary armed forces, intelligence units and their paramilitary groups.

The successive reactionary regimes that took over after the Marcos dictatorship never undertook any decisive step to positively address the people's longstanding demand to seek redress from heinous fascist crimes and hold the guilty parties accountable. It is only the New People's Army and the revolutionary movement that have taken on and continued to assume the responsibility of meting justice for these crimes against the revolution and the people.

04 July 2001
English Edition

	Masses rejoice at Colonel Aguinaldo's punishment
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	Fascist-turned-warlord politico
	Punitive operation against Aguinaldo: No reactionary fortress is impregnable to the revolution