Gov’t winning anti-insurgency campaign in Northern Luzon — military

Government troops are winning the anti-insurgency campaign against the New People’s Army (NPA) in Northern Luzon, the region’s military commander said yesterday.

Quoting figures from the last quarter, Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) chief Maj. Gen. Bonifacio Ramos said since Oct. 1, troops killed eight rebels in eight clashes with the NPA in Northern Luzon.

"There is no question that we are succeeding in reducing the capability of the enemy, because right now, the NPA is in total disarray," he said.

However, the total number of NPA fatalities could be higher because residents who witnessed the shootouts reported that the rebels dragged their dead comrades, he added.

Ramos said troops encountered the NPA in Pantabangan and Carrangla in Nueva Ecija, Orion in Bataan, Malolos in Bulacan, Dupax del Sur in Nueva Vizcaya, Rizal in Cagayan and Balbalan in Kalinga.

No government casualties were reported in these encounters, he added.

Ramos said troops also "neutralized" top NPA leaders like Leopoldo Caluza alias Ambo/Ino, Central Luzon NPA regional operational command chief and Nueva Ecija provincial committee secretary, and Edward Cabanero alias Jerry, squad leader of Platoon Alfa, Kilusan Larangang Gerilya front 1 under the Nueva Ecija provincial committee.

Troops also seized eight assorted high-powered firearms from the rebels, including a hand grenade, a two-way radio, medical paraphernalia and subversive documents, he added.

Ramos said Caluza was reportedly responsible for the killing of Kathlyn Ramos, a 19-year-old student, who was suspected of being a government informer.

Cabanero is the whistle-blower behind the sexual harassment of NPA amazons and other abuses committed by rebel leaders, he added.

Ramos said 568 members of NPA-organized mass base, supporters and sympathizers gave up to the Army’s 48th Infantry Battalion with 315 assorted firearms in San Jose City, and surrendered 129 firearms to 69th Infantry Battalion in the City of San Fernando in Pampanga.

Ramos said civilians in Bulacan and Nueva Ecija fully support the establishment of the integrated territorial defense system (ITDS) to guard and protect their communities against the NPA.

The NPA might attempt to recover lost ground once the soldiers vacate the area for another assignment, he added.

He is confident that the recruitment of additional soldiers and Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) members will further seal the military’s gains, Ramos said.

Meanwhile, Nolcom said continuing purges within the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) are behind the killing of leftist activists in Northern Luzon.

The allegations are contained in a special report sent to journalists yesterday entitled: "The Truth Behind the So-Called Political Killings."

Nolcom said NPA hit men killed a certain Manegdeg, worker of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, on Nov. 28 last year in San Esteban town, Ilocos Sur and Albert Terredaño, an employee of the Department of Agrarian Reform in Bangued, Abra, the next day.

The special report alleged that Manegdeg and Terredaño had ties with the CPP.

Subtitled "Unmasked," the special report claimed that Manegdeg was the secretary of the Urban White Area Committee, Ilocos Cordillera regional committee and executive committee member of the ICRC for quite sometime while keeping up his work in aboveground organizations.

The Nolcom report said Terredaño was a CPP member and the man behind the pseudonym Diego Wadagan, spokesman for the NPA’s Abra based-Agustin Begnalen Command who had threatened to punish Tineg, Abra Mayor Clarence Benwaren for allegedly having "incurred blood debts awaiting revolutionary justice."

"We cannot ignore the glaring reality that at one point in time, ‘Ka Pepe’ and Terredaño allowed themselves to be used by the communist underground movement," read the report.

Nolcom said Manegdeg’s killers knew how important their target is to the underground movement and ascertained his movements to accomplish their mission. — James Mananghaya, Ding Cervantes, Artemio Dumlao