3,000 flee from MNLF, MILF standoff in North Cotabato village
By Edwin Fernandez
Close to 3,000 individuals from three adjoining villages here have fled their homes as rival Moro rebel groups continue war posturing despite localized truce.
Close to 3,000 individuals from three adjoining villages here have fled their homes as rival Moro rebel groups continue war posturing despite localized truce.
A command of the New People’s Army on Sunday claimed responsibility for the killing of three persons in northern Negros Occidental whom it tagged as “counter-revolutionary.”
Three government troopers were slain while another was wounded when they were hit by shrapnel from a landmine blast set by suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Barangay (village) Maninila, an upland village in Camalig, Albay, Monday morning, an Army official said.
The elections in Bicol and Southern Tagalog have been free of harassment by New People’s Army guerrillas because the rebels themselves participated in the elections, a regional spokesman of the military claimed.
Malacañang shrugged. “It’s nothing new,” said Palace spokesperson Edwin Lacierda on Saturday when asked to comment on threats made by the communist rebels to intensify their attacks after the government announced that it would no longer pursue peace talks.
The Aquino administration is really asking for it. Renewing his verbal attacks on the Aquino government from his Dutch aerie, Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison warned of increased offensives throughout the country from the New People’s Army (NPA), the CPP’s armed wing, as a result of the government’s allegedly unilateral termination of the peace talks.
The difficulty of holding talks with officials of The Netherlands-based National Democratic Front (NDF) has had a lot to do with the rebels’ use of outdated jargon, Malacañang said on Monday.
Communist rebels are raking in millions of pesos extorting money from candidates in next month’s elections and will likely use their loot to buy guns, a senior military officer said Sunday.
Communist rebels admitted they have in their custody a policeman and a soldier, who went missing in North Cotabato and Compostela Valley last week.
Malacañang ordered law enforcement bodies, on Monday, to dismantle all makeshift checkpoints set up by the New People’s Army (NPA) in the countryside after Senator Teofisto “TG” Guingona III questioned the rebels’ authority to set them up in a country under “one government” and governed by “one President.”
Cherry Mae Velasco sat quietly outside her grandmother’s house in Barangay 23 Gahub here. A faint smile was plastered on her face while she listened to her younger cousins exchange pleasantries.
The communist New People’s Army (NPA) has called on the people in the second district here to dislodge the over 20-year-old rule of the Garcia political clan, saying it only resulted in the exploitation of the people, especially during the election time.
Military and police units have been sent to go after a group of New People’s Army (NPA) rebels, which allegedly opened fire at the convoy of Gingoog City Mayor Ruthie Guingona, wife of former Vice President Teofisto Guingona, and killed two of her aides.
