Communist guerrillas in Davao Oriental province say they will shift from combat to providing free labor for farmers once the ceasefire with the government is reinstated. —KARLOS MANLUPIG
At least 15 communist rebels and three government soldiers were killed in separate clashes in Quezon and Oriental Mindoro provinces on Thursday, military and police reports said.
Also on Thursday, a mother and her three daughters were wounded when New People’s Army (NPA) rebels attacked a military detachment in Silvino Lobos town in Northern Samar.
The clashes erupted a day after the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), celebrated its 48th founding anniversary. These also happened as the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines were preparing to resume peace negotiations in The Netherlands next week.
In Quezon, Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang, commander of the Army’s 80th Infantry Battalion in the northern section of the province, said two government soldiers were killed and three others were wounded after a firefight with NPA rebels in General Nakar town.
Cabangbang said about 40 Army soldiers were on combat patrol at 2 p.m. on Thursday when they clashed with more than 30 NPA rebels in Barangay Lumutan. The firefight went on for two hours.
Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla Jr., Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson, said the encounter was initiated by the military.
Ten rebels were killed, two of them believed to be women fighters, he said.
Cabangbang said the military deployed K-9 units to find out where the rebels buried their dead.
The remains of the two soldiers were taken to a funeral parlor in Tanay town in Rizal province.
Two of the wounded soldiers were taken to the V. Luna military hospital in Quezon City.
In Oriental Mindoro, military operations continued on Friday after the four-hour gunbattle between government soldiers and rebels in Bulalacao town that left six dead.
Army Capt. Chris Cuenca of the Philippine Army’s 203rd Brigade said at least five NPA rebels were killed in the clash that started at 8 a.m. on Thursday.
Military reports said a soldier was killed, but his identity was withheld pending the family’s permission to release his name.
Army officials believed the NPA rebels had planned to attack a military detachment in Barangay Benli, a Mangyan community, in Bulalacao. Fighting erupted about 3 kilometers from the detachment.
Padilla said the NPA attacks that occurred after the CPP agreed to return to the negotiating table might be a sign that its leadership was losing control of its forces on the ground.
The attacks, he said, could also be part of the insurgents’ projection of power, so they could “negotiate from a position of strength.”
In Northern Samar province, a 31-year-old mother and her three daughters were wounded after their house was hit by a bomb after NPA rebels attacked a military detachment in Silvino Lobos town on Thursday.
Genalyn Tulin and her daughters—Ruby Jean, 2; Danica, 10; and Jujilyn, 12—had shrapnel wounds and were taken to the Northern Samar Provincial Hospital in the capital town of Catarman.
Tulin said they were sleeping in their house, which was a few meters away from the detachment, at 4 a.m. when they were awakened by bursts of gunfire.
She said they scampered for safety but fragments of the bomb hit her and her children.
In Manila, nearly 100 CPP members and supporters, most wearing red shirts with red kerchiefs over their faces, marched on Friday near Malacañang in a show of force before Sunday’s resumption of peace talks with the government. —DELFIN T. MALLARI JR., MARICAR CINCO, RACHEL ARNAIZ, PHILIP C. TUBEZA AND AP