New People’s Army rebels abandon guns, explosives in Camarines Sur camp

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

LUCENA CITY — New People’s Army (NPA) rebels left behind three high-powered firearms and explosives in their camp that government forces overrun on Monday in Del Gallego town in Camarines Sur province, a report from the military’s Southern Luzon Command (Solcom) on Tuesday, March 5, said.

Colonel Dennis Cana, Solcom public information officer, said in a press statement that Army soldiers recovered two M16 and one M14 rifles and three anti-personnel mines in an NPA camp in the mountainous area of Barangay Bagong Silang.

The soldiers also found a portable electric generator set and personal belongings left behind by the fleeing rebels in their camp with 19 makeshift huts.

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Bagong Silang is adjacent to Barangay Mapulot in Tagkawayan town in Quezon province, where five government militiamen were killed on Sept. 1 last year by the NPA rebels in a clash that prompted Tagkawayan authorities to suspend school classes in their mountain villages.

Solcom said the military acted on information about the presence of NPA rebels in Bagong Silang to celebrate the NPA’s founding anniversary on March 29.

Major General Facundo Palafox IV, the new Solcom acting commander, expressed gratitude to the villagers for their support for government forces.

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After his assumption as Solcom commander on March 2, Palafox called on the remaining NPA rebels in Southern Tagalog and Bicol regions to surrender.

“Come back to your families, join us, and become responsible and productive members of our society,” Palafox said in his speech. Palafox is former commander of the Army’s Armor Division.

A member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) “Bigkis Lahi” Class of 1990, Palafox replaced Lieutenant General Efren Baluyot as Solcom head. Baluyot, a member of PMA Class 1989, had served as Solcom chief since November 2022 until his retirement this month.

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The change of command was presided over by Armed Forces of the Philippines chief General Romeo Brawner Jr.

In his speech, Brawner vowed that by the end of March 31, “all NPA guerrilla fronts, even the weakened guerrilla fronts will have to be dismantled already.”

“By the end of June, all vertical units of the NPA will have to be finished and decimated,” he stressed. He said that by the end of 2024, all regional and sub-regional Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) committees have already been dismantled.