News
NDF-Northern Mindanao honors two NPA martyrs
THE National Democratic Front in Northern Mindanao paid tribute to Pulang Diwata Command spokesperson Ka Geril Manggubat, and Ka Johnny, a Red fighter, on June 21. The two fighters were slain after a successful raid on a PNP station in Bayugan, Agusan del Sur on June 19. PNP reinforcements caught up with them while they were retreating from the place of battle. Their lives serve as an inspiration for the further intensification of armed struggle in the region.
The Red Alimaong Platoon seized seven M16s, five M14s and ammunition from the raid. Two PNP troops were also killed.
New cases of media repression exposed
REPRESSION of the freedom of expression is intensifying in the country. Only a few weeks after Bombo Radyo-Isabela was allowed to resume broadcasts, another radio program was forced off the air by the military and police.
On June 23, Radyo Anakpawis, a weekly program of the Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan broadcast over radio station DZRB in Batangas City, was forced off the air. Alleging that the program was being maintained by the New People's Army, the AFP ordered its closure and a stop to criticisms of the Arroyo government.
DZRB manager Danny Debolgado and Bayan Muna- Southern Tagalog chair Orly Marcellana who anchors the program, objected to the suppression. Marcellana is the widower of slain human rights advocate Eden Marcellana. The program has continued broadcasting despite threats by the military and the police of a raid on the station.
In Mindanao, the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN)-Socsargen Chapter strongly denounced the murder of commentator and dzRH-Radyo Natin manager Ely Binoya. Binoya was killed in Sarangani province on June 17. Two weeks before he was murdered in Barangay Batomelang, Binoya was mauled by relatives of Mayor Teodoro Padernilla of Malungon. Binoya is 15th on the list of journalists who have been murdered since 2001 in the course of practicing their profession.
US, AFP to conduct 6 military exercises starting July
AFP and American troops will begin its series of "joint exercises" for 2004 in Carmen, North Cotabato on July 26. The exercises will last till August 14.
The US specifically chose Cotabato because of the heavy presence of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) forces in the province. The US has accused the MILF of collaborating with Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), which it considers a terrorist group. As in previous exercises, the US and the AFP are using the presence of so-called regional terrorists as a pretext to conceal the US' armed intervention in Philippine affairs.
Five more exercises are slated for the rest of the year.
- Fusion 04-2, which will be held from the second to the third week of July, according to the AFP Information Office. The US Navy, the Joint Interagency Task Force West, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Philippine Navy and Coast Guard will be joining the training against narcotics and on counter-terrorism. It will be held in Subic Bay, Zambales, and in the Southern Command's area of responsibility in Western Mindanao.
- Balance Piston, which involves training the light infantry battalion at the 6th ID Training Unit in Carmen, Cotabato City from the last week of July to the last week of August. One-hundred and fifty American troops and AFP Special Forces will be joining Balance Piston.
- CARAT or the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training, involving elements of the US and Philippine Navies, to be held also in July.
- US-RP Maritime Surveillance Exercises (Marsurvex) which starts with the training of 100 personnel in the use of air and sea craft in the first week of August.
- Palah exercises, which will be held in the last quarter of the year for elements of the US Navy and the Philippine Navy Special Warfare Group.
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