GMA orders ‘swift, forcible action’ vs NPA raiders

President Arroyo ordered yesterday "swift and forcible action" against communist rebels she blamed for killing 17 people during an attack on a remote Army camp in Samar the other day.

"I am directing the military and police to combine their intelligence resources so that we can obviate the element of surprise that is being used to our disadvantage," Mrs. Arroyo said in a statement a day after about 200 guerrillas raided the Army camp outside Oras town in Eastern Samar.

She said the fresh wave of communist attacks will be dealt with "swiftly and forcibly," adding that isolated insurgent formations must not be allowed to roam and fester in the countryside.

"We have the duty to protect our own far-flung military and police outposts with forward intelligence coverage," she said.

Mrs. Arroyo said it was unfortunate the communist New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas exploited "a weak spot" in the government’s defense.

The rebels attacked the detachment of the 52nd Infantry Battalion based in Cagpili in Oras town.

The raid Thursday - the biggest in 11 years - left 11 militiamen, five soldiers and the wife of a soldier dead, said Lt. Col. Ruby Bongabong, spokeswoman for the Army’s Central Command.

Two other soldiers were reported wounded in the two-hour firefight, after which the rebels withdrew on boats, Bongabong said.

"Our troops were overwhelmed," she said.

Troops pursuing the rebels found the boats in nearby Arteche, Bongabong said. The boats had bloodstains, indicating the guerrillas also suffered casualties, she said, adding that the rebels headed late Thursday toward Jipadpad town, about 40 kilometers northwest of Oras.

Eastern Visayas police director Chief Superintendent Dionisio Coloma said police forces on Samar and in the neighboring Leyte provinces were put on full alert.

Bongabong said the attack was a show of force by the rebels, who are considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. The government suspended peace talks in mid 2001 after the guerrillas assassinated congressmen Marcial Punzalan of Quezon and Rodolfo Aguinaldo of Cagayan.

In a statement yesterday, communist rebel spokesman Gregorio Rosal congratulated the attackers. He said they "exhibited correct guerrilla tactics to ensure victory in carrying out the raid."

He claimed that the military outpost’s armory was ransacked, and the "additional arms and munitions will help arm the growing number of NPA fighters," he said. Rosal made no comment on the woman who was slain.

The NPA, which claims to have about 13,500 fighters, has been battling for a Marxist state for over 30 years.

Its attacks and raids usually target military positions and camps as well as business establishments who refuse to pay extortion money. The military estimates the NPA has 10,000 guerrillas. — With reports from Mike Frialde, Benjie Villa, Pamela Samia, AP