Campaign Plan Balangai:
Continuing fascist attacks in Southern Tagalog

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

Contrary to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo�s declaration that she would renounce Estrada�s total war policy, there are continuing attempts to crush the revolutionary movement in Southern Tagalog. To date, Macapagal-Arroyo has not issued any direct order to terminate a counterrevolutionary scheme hatched up by the Estrada government � Campaign Plan Balangai.

On January 28, a civilian was killed when Scout Ranger forces under Task Force Banahaw attacked Sitio Talipan, Barangay Magsaysay, Siniloan, Laguna. Four NPA fighters were killed in the ensuing firefight, all of them shot in the back, while one was wounded. Four other civilians were picked up that same day in Barangay Kapatalan, Siniloan and accused of being NPA fighters.

Campaign Plan Balangai aims to thwart the continued and rapid advance of the revolutionary movement in the region. Under its auspices, enemy campaigns and operations continue to intensify in villages and towns of Southern Tagalog considered as solid bases of the revolution.

In this regard, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) continue to investigate priority barangays to pinpoint barrios that serve as centers of gravity for guerrilla fronts and crush the revolutionary mass base in these areas. Intelligence work is being intensified, the paramilitary CAFGU strengthened and psychological operations stepped up. Despite the concentration of up to 60% of AFP and PNP forces on the anti-Moro campaign in Mindanao, the regime maintained military and police strike forces in the region�s leading guerrilla fronts.

It is also the military and police�s objective to protect the interests of big foreign investors with projects in the region and suppress the raging mass movement against such antipeople projects. In Mindoro, for instance, the 3rd Battalion of the PNP Special Action Force guards the CREW Mineral Mining Corp. whose operations are based in Victoria, Oriental Mindoro. On the other hand, the 23rd Special Forces Coy of the Philippine Army in Palawan, the PNP Regional Mobile Group in Mindoro and the 35th Special Forces Coy of the Philippine Army in Batangas stand guard over the laying of the Malampaya Gas Pipe Line that shall pass from northern Palawan and Mindoro through to Ilijan, Batangas.

Deployed in the region at present is the 201st Bde of the Philippine Army�s 2nd ID, with its headquarters in Rizal Ilaya, Caluag, Quezon and its area of operations covering most of Quezon, the Quezon-Bicol border and Marinduque island. Also deployed in the region is Task Force Banahaw that includes the 4th Special Forces Battalion and the 2nd Scout Ranger Battalion. Task Force Banahaw concentrates its attacks on Laguna, Rizal, Batangas, Cavite and part of Quezon. There is one Philippine Air Force company with southern Palawan as its area of operations. Northern Palawan is covered by the 23rd Special Forces Coy that had been transferred from Cebu.

Meanwhile, Philippine National Police assault forces are concentrated in Southern Tagalog�s island provinces. The 4th PNP Regional Mobile Group covers Occidental Mindoro while a battalion of the PNP Special Action Force (SAF) has its area of operations in Oriental Mindoro. There is likewise a newly deployed PNP SAF battalion based in Victoria, Oriental Mindoro.

Various military intelligence units such as MIG-4, MIG-14, 79-MICO and MITU that are deployed in the region are integrated into the different military assault units. It is these intelligence units that recruit former New People�s Army (NPA) fighters as informers and CAFGU elements and use them in counterrevolutionary operations and propaganda.

The enemy, at present, launches a two-pronged attack against the revolutionary movement�s armed force � first, it attacks the NPA�s armed units and second, undertakes a widespread campaign to try to isolate the NPA from the people through the counterrevolutionary activities of its special operations teams.

Nonetheless, the enemy is unable to do this as often and as intensely, using the same level of strength and covering the same breadth as before. There has been a major decrease in the number of enemy battalions deployed in Southern Tagalog since the US-Estrada regime began its anti-Moro war. As a result, military and police troops are extremely overextended.

Lacking personnel, the enemy is unable to exercise absolute superiority at all times. It makes up for this by conducting counter-guerrilla operations using small and flexible units highly skilled in combat, such as the Philippine Army�s Special Forces and Scout Rangers.

These forces are now spread thinly through platoon- and squad-size formations. The enemy overextends its forces in its desire to cover vast areas within guerrilla fronts and confront the revolutionary forces in the region in several places all at once to thwart the revolution�s rapid advance.

Despite renewed enemy attacks in the region, the revolutionary movement in Southern Tagalog has been able to sustain, in the year 2000, the momentum of all-sided advance in overall revolutionary work even as it consolidated itself. Intense attacks by fascist troops of the US-Estrada regime failed to thwart the trend of advance in all major lines of work.

In the field of armed struggle, the monster has bled from wounds inflicted in many parts of his body even as its growing head has been dealt frequent blows. Even before the April 2000 New Millennium Offensive of the NPA in Southern Tagalog, several major tactical offensives had been launched, targetting the most notorious AFP and PNP units. Following are a few examples:

• Successful operations, such as an ambush launched for the very first time on a unit of the Philippine Army�s 9th Scout Ranger Coy in Mabitac and a raid conducted without firing a single shot in Sta. Maria, both in Laguna.
• Simultaneous raid on a detachment manned by extortionist units of the Provincial Mobile Group as well as the Land Transportation Office and Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Calauag; a no-shot raid on the Maritime Police in Burdeos; a raid on a detachment of the 74th IB in Mulanay; and an ambush in Unisan � all in Quezon.
• Ambush on three vehicles of the Special Action Force-PNP in Victoria, Oriental Mindoro.
• Ambush in Sta. Cruz, Occidental Mindoro, that included two punitive operations on elements who have violated or refused to abide by the revolutionary movement�s taxation policies on enemy classes.

Meanwhile, small operations that have yielded firearms and punished informers and bad elements continue. More than 40 high-powered rifles and more than 20 pistols as well as ammunition and other military equipment were seized and the equivalent of a section-size enemy force was killed in 10 major operations. An even bigger number of enemy troops surrendered in these firefights, and important transportation and communications equipment of the enemy were destroyed.

More frequent and more intense operations reflect the breadth and depth of support extended by the masses, such as actively transmitting information on the enemy�s deployment and movements within guerrilla zones and fronts.

Guided by the central task defined by the regional Party organization to "intensify guerrilla warfare and mass struggles while gaining strength and expanding and gaining strength while intensifying guerrilla warfare and mass struggles!", the revolutionary movement in Southern Tagalog is sure to continue in its advance and thwart Campaign Plan Balangai.

January 2001
English Edition

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	Factions within the police and the military
	The role of Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco in the final months of the Estrada regime
	The gigantic, militant and peaceful mass actions that ousted Estrada
	Campaign Plan Balangai: Continuing fascist attacks in Southern Tagalog
	Statements: On the prisoners of war currently under the custody of the NPA
	Statements: On the bombings in Metro Manila
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