The NPA raid on Calbiga is praiseworthy to the people

Jose Sumoroy
Spokesperson
Efren Martires Command
New People's Army-Eastern Visayas
March 12, 2003

The victorious NPA raid on the police force of Calbiga, Western Samar, is praiseworthy to the people. It refutes the slander by the Macapagal-Arroyo regime and the AFP-PNP that the NPA is terrorist and criminal. The raid showed that the NPA is principled, disciplined and abides by the international laws of war -- the complete opposite of the long-standing heinous record of the AFP-PNP against the people.

The Red fighters who donned military uniforms as a ploy entered the town at about 5:30 a.m. onboard jeeps and a truck. The town police were subdued within 40 minutes because of the element of surprise and the quick maneuvering of the NPA. Eight policemen surrendered and confiscated were four M16 rifles, a shotgun, three 9 mm. pistols, a .45 caliber pistol, two .38 revolvers, a .22 pistol and other military equipment. In the entire conduct of the raid, the NPA did not pose any threat to civilian lives and property and respected the rights of the captured policemen who were hors de combat.

This raid on Calbiga is a big blow to the Macapagal-Arroyo regime and the AFP-PNP. Despite the heightened alert status of the PNP and AFP and their repeated boasts that they were in control of "peace and order" and the "insurgency problem", the guerrilla revolutionaries were successful again in attacking them in their own stronghold -- proof that the armed revolution continues to advance.

Above all, the raid on Calbiga proves that the NPA enjoys the widespread and deep support of the masses of the people. The key to the success of the raid was the active support of the masses to the NPA from their preparations to their withdrawal. This revelation to the broad public is a major embarrassment to the Macapagal-Arroyo regime and the AFP-PNP, who contrive to pose as enjoying the support of the people as well as acting in their interests.

In their desperation to retaliate as well as the lack of any other issue to use against the NPA, the military and police in Region 8 are baselessly spreading about that the Red fighters who raided Calbiga were minors. This is completely false. Aside from abiding by its own basic rules, the NPA sincerely implements its obligations under international humanitarian law, including the forbidding of the recruitment of minors. The principled conduct of the NPA in its raid on Calbiga last March 8 by itself gives truth to this.

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