DAVAO CITY – At least five soldiers were killed while two others were wounded late Tuesday afternoon when a landmine hit their truck as they were on their way to the headquarters of the Army’s 401st Infantry Brigade in Lianga, Surigao del Sur.
The landmine, which New People’s Army (NPA) rebels reportedly planted on the road in Barangay Ganayon, killed the five members of the Army Personnel Management Center based at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City who were administering promotion examinations for government troops, said Maj. Randolph Cabangbang, spokesman of the Armed Forces’ Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) based here.
The team was being provided security by personnel of the 36th Infantry Battalion when the incident took place.
The latest attack came after rebel spokesman Fidel Agcaoili said NPA guerrillas should intensify attacks and take advantage of “crisis conditions” battering President Arroyo’s administration to advance their decades-old rebellion.
He said sporadic peace talks, which broke down in 2004, were “highly unlikely” to resume “while Arroyo is in power.”
During an informal meeting with rebel negotiators in the Norwegian capital of Oslo that ended Sunday, government representatives insisted the guerrillas agree to an indefinite ceasefire as a condition for resuming talks. The rebels rejected the demand, Agcaoili said.
The guerrillas have been proposing a truce to take effect only during formal talks as a show of goodwill but the government has not responded, he said.
Presidential peace adviser Hermogenes Esperon said the government wanted an indefinite ceasefire to provide the country a respite from frequent bloody clashes.
The casualties in the Lianga attack were identified as M/Sgt. Rolly Banag, T/Sgt. Juanito Tela, Sgt. Ruel Ortero, Cpl. Amil Julmadi, and Pfc. Piong Jalain.
Two others were wounded, identified as S/Sgt. Danilo Mamocay and Cpl. Haliddin Habibun.
Cabangbang said the soldiers had come from the 36th IB headquarters in Barangay Maharlika, Bislig City and were en route to the camp of the 401st IB in Tandag City when a landmine hit their vehicle in Sitio Bantolinao in Barangay Ganayan, Lianga town at around 4:20 p.m. last Tuesday.
Cabangbang said men of the 401st IB rescued the wounded soldiers while troops of the 58th Infantry Battalion pursued the NPA rebels responsible for the landmine attack.
Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, Army spokesman, said the Army team also lost five firearms, ammunition, a laptop computer, cellular phones and personal belongings during the attack.
“The Philippine Army condemns the NPA’s continued and growing use of landmines in their attacks against government troops, and calls on the international community to make an appropriate action or sanction on this,” Brawner said.
He said NPA rebels under the Sentro de Grabidad Platun 7 led by one Ka Ado and Ka Dodoy were behind the attack in Lianga town.
Last Monday, four soldiers, including an officer, were wounded in another landmine explosion in Barangay Mahan-ub in Baganga, Davao Oriental. – With James Mananghaya, Jaime Laude and Ben Serrano