NDF lauds Tuburan raid

The National Democratic Front yesterday declared a success the recent raid against the 78th Infantry Battalion's Re-engineered Special Operations Team camp in barangay Sumon, Tuburan town, which killed three soldiers and left the residents in fear.

NDF regional spokeman Rio dela Montaña, in a statement sent to The FREEMAN said that the raid was part of the revolutionary movement's "calculated punitive response" against the Arroyo government.

He also claimed that the rebels who attacked the military camp using only short firearms belonged to the NPA Vicente Padayao Command, adding that all the rebels returned safely to their mother unit.

"The armed tactical offensive has again demonstrated the firm resolve of the masses to assist the NPA in gradually boosting the peasant army arsenal while consolidating their collective strength within the countryside-based people's democratic government," Dela Montaña said.

He said the armed revolutionary movement's own CPR was done to give justice to civilians victimized by the Arroyo government's Oplan Bantay Laya counterrevolutionary campaign.

Citing a report from the revolutionary movement's website, the rebel leader said that several hundred cases of human rights violations were committed by the elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines against legal activities and entire communities since Arroyo assumed the presidency in 2001. He said these include the killing of several leaders of militant and progressive groups who fought for the rights of the ordinary and poor people.

Dela Montaña said that their own CPR is calculated because they only target the most oppressive units of the AFP like the 78th IB, which has committed a lot of grave human rights abuses.

He added that it is also their response to the Arroyo government's so-called "calibrated preemptive response" policy and other "Marcosian tactics" practiced by her administration. - Wenna A. Berondo