Correspondence reports:
Firefight in Cagayan Valley

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

Nine soldiers of the 45th IB and 53rd Reconnaissance Company were killed in a firefight with NPA guerrillas in Barangay Dicamay Uno, Jones, Isabela on March 19. A 15-strong AFP troop was on patrol at around 6 a.m. when spotted by an NPA platoon under the Benito Tesorio Command that had temporarily encamped in the area. The Red fighters immediately made plans to ambush them.

The fighting began at about 6:30 a.m. and lasted for two hours. The remaining enemy troops hid in the thick woods so they were not completely wiped out.

Even if the guerrillas had long left the area, a far bigger AFP troop that was just positioned nearby failed to assist the embattled soldiers due to intense fear.

The AFP rescued the embattled troops at around 5 p.m. but only after two Tora-Tora planes bombed the scene of the encounter and a Huey helicopter strafed it. They quickly picked up their dead and wounded to prevent the masses from seeing them.

The embattled troops were part of six platoons that had been conducting a military operation in the municipalities of Jones and Echague for a week before the fighting. The operation was the 5th Infantry Division's response to an NPA disarming operation against Isabela Congressman Giorgidi Aggabao, a relative of Danding Cojuangco and a close ally of Gov. Faustino "Junior" Dy. Also among those disarmed were two mayors, a provincial board member and their bodyguards.

The military operation also tried to stem the flow of electoral candidates applying for Permits-to-Campaign from the people's democratic government. The soldiers have likewise been harassing members of legal progressive parties and other organizations and individuals working against the Dy dynasty in Isabela. The military has been openly campaigning for Governor Dy and his underlings.

The Dy family has long controlled reactionary politics in Isabela. Aside from Gov. "Junior" Dy, among the Dys who wield power in the province are Mayor Caesar Dy of Cauayan City and Congressman Faustino Dy III of the 3rd district of Isabela.

07 April 2004
English Edition

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