CAMP NAKAR, Lucena City -– The chief of the military’s Southern Luzon Command (Solcom) belittled the recent spates of New People’s Army (NPA) attacks on Globe telecommunications relay sites in the Bicol and Southern Tagalog regions, calling the operations acts of desperation.
“The attacks were not the initiatives of local terrorists. [They’re] part of the orchestrated moves instructed by the national NPA command to demonstrate that they are still a force to reckon with,” Major General Delfin Bangit, Solcom commander, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) in an interview here Tuesday.
“One or two communist guerillas hurling Molotov bombs at communication towers, even inside the town proper, [are] acts of desperation. They want to create the impression that they are still around,” he said.
Communist rebels have struck eight Globe cell sites in Bicol and Southern Tagalog over the past several days, justifying these because of the telecommunications firm’s refusal to pay so-called revolutionary taxes.
On Thursday and Friday last week, six Globe relay stations, in the cities of Ligao and Legazpi, and the towns of Jovellar and Pio Duran, in Albay province, one in Barcelona, Sorsogon, and another one in Camarines Sur, were attacked by small groups of communist guerillas.
In Lemery town in Batangas, about 15 armed men wearing camouflage uniforms and believed to be NPA fighters, also bombed Globe’s cell site at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday
On Sunday evening, a group of NPA guerrillas fired at Globe’s cell tower in Dao village in the coastal town of Pilar in Sorsogon.
The attacks in Bicol were confirmed by Greg Bañares, spokesperson of the National Democratic Front (NDF) in the region, who called these punishment for Globe’s refusal to give in to the rebels’ taxation.
Bangit claimed that the “small and intentional tactical actions” of the NPA also aim "to refute at all cost" the military’s successes in counterinsurgency.
“They are suffering from our relentless counterinsurgency operation. This is their way of hitting us back,” he said.
Bangit said Solcom forces have begun the second phase of their counterinsurgency operation this year.
“We are doing a lot of operation in Bicol, hitting the center of NPA operations in Sorsogon, Masbate and Catanduanes provinces,” he said.
He said government forces have again dismantled one guerilla front in Laguna and another in Marinduque.
“For this period, we are concentrating in one of the rebel-affected areas in Quezon [as a] a prelude to our final offensive next year,” he said.
He did not identify the specific target area so as not to preempt the operation.
