The AFP's numerous ceasefire violations and prepositioning
for renewed campaign of military suppression*
Communist Party of the Philippines
January 3, 2011
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) denounces the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) for their numerous violations of the reciprocal and concurrent ceasefire declared by the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).
The AFP took advantage of the 19-day ceasefire to preposition its forces in and around NPA guerrilla fronts to carry out intelligence operations, harass suspected activists and supporters of the armed revolution and arrest NPA personnel in preparation for renewed and more open attacks.
Partial reports of AFP and PNP violations of the ceasefire include the following:
1) At 3 a.m. of January 1, the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police raided the house of a relative of an NPA cadre, Edwin Brigano, where he was staying during the ceasefire period to undergo medical treatment for a serious respiratory illness and hepatitis. In violation of the ceasefire, the PNP-SAF took the NPA cadre, detained him and slapped him with trumped-up charges.
2) On December 28, elements of the Philippine Army's 74th IB detained ten students of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines who were in Barangay San Andres, San Narciso, Quezon. The military claimed the students were members of the NPA but were unable to present evidence and press charges. The students were later released following complaints by the human rights organization, Karapatan.
3) For several days leading to December 26, forces under the 4th ID carried out mobile and fixed checkpoints in several barangays in Surigao del Sur with the objective of pinpointing the exact area where the NDF-Mindanao celebrations of the CPP anniversary would be held. On December 25 and 26, military and police operatives set up a series of checkpoints along the main provincial highways. On December 26, when the exact location of the site of celebrations were already publicly known, checkpoints were set up around San Agustin town in Surigao del Sur to block, harass and delay the flow of people on the way to attend the CPP anniversary celebrations.
4) At midnight of December 23, forces of the 80th IB under Lt. Col. Roger Percol carried out a strike operation against a small NPA team in So. Upper Balading, Bgy. Bayotbot, San Jose, Occidental Mindoro. Percol's fascist soldiers strafed the house where the NPA team was visiting. The NPA team was forced to immediately withdraw without returning fire to prevent civilians in the house from getting caught in the crossfire. A civilian, Stephen Lester Barrientos, was killed by the soldiers' indiscriminate fire. After the relatives of Barrientos retrieved his body, they were harassed for several days by the 80th IB forces. The 80th IB also arresed Christian Bascos, an NPA member who wanted to take advantage of the ceasefire to visit his girlfriend in the same area. Two of Bascos' companions who were also planning to visit their families and have medical checkups were also arrested by the 80th IB.
5) On December 23, military operations were also carried out in Brgy. San Pedro, Mulanay town, Quezon, simultaneous with military operations in Brgy. Busuk-busukan in San Narciso.
6) On December 22, operating troops from the detachment of the 74th IB in Brgy. Ilayang Tayuman in San Francisco town joined the operations of the 85th IB-PA and harassed the residents of Barangays Sinagtala and Whitecliff in San Narciso town, maliciously taking pictures of the residents. Company-sized military operations continue to be conducted by joint forces of the 85th IB and 74th IB in other barangays of San Narciso, including Binay, Busok-busokan, San Vicente and Vigo Central.
7) For several days starting December 21, troops of the 61st IB conducted combat clearing operations in at least six upland barangays of Tapaz, Capiz, and Calinog, Iloilo. The massive show of fascist terrorism in these populated areas created fear in the local population and ruined the people's holiday celebrations.
8) On December 17, police operatives arrested NDF-North Central Mindanao officer Pedro Codaste and his companions at a checkpoint in Bayugan town, Agusan del Sur. Police officers justified their action by claiming that Codaste has standing warrants for his arrest.
9) On December 16-17, units under the 85th IB carried out offensive military operations in Barangays White Cliff, Busuk-Busukan and San Juan, all in San Narciso town, Quezon. On December 17, a 24-man platoon extended the 85th IB's military operations to Sitio Mageron, Brgy. Nasalaan, San Francisco town, where they rounded up the menfolk and forced them to undress.
10) On December 16, the 5th ID sent a special commando unit to target NPA forces and sympathizers along the boundary of Aguinaldo town in Ifugao and Natonin town in Mountain Province. The following day, the 5th ID's commando forces positioned themselves in So. Tappo, Brgy. Banawel, Natonin. More offensive military operations by Re-engineered Special Operations Team (RSOT) units of the 5th ID followed suit in other barangays of Natonin, including Tonglayan, Alunugan, Botac, Balangaw, Banawel, Saliyok and Maducayan, and also in Bananao, Botigue and several other barangays of Paracelis town, also in Mountain Province.
In these and other communities, the AFP's RSOT units continued to conduct "census" of barangays, tag residents in a list of "NPA sympathizers," place them in an "Order of Battle," announce the list in community psywar assemblies, force those tagged to personally report to the military and subject them to various forms of harassment and coercion, including torture and threats of liquidation.
The CPP anticipates more reports of ceasefire violations of the AFP to arrive in the next few days. All these will be consolidated in a report to be submitted to the NDFP negotiating panel.
All revolutionary forces and the entire revolutionary mass base should brace themselves for a more intensified campaign of military suppression to be carried out by the AFP with even more fancy slogans of deception under the new counterinsurgency Operational Plan Bayanihan (Oplan Bayanihan) soon after the current 19-day ceasefire ends at midnight today.
All revolutionary forces should immediately carry out the necessary measures in the political and military fields to unite the people and counter the AFP's Oplan Bayanihan.
Turn the tables against the enemy, grab the initiative and launch effective tactical offensives against enemy forces within and around the guerrilla fronts, zones and bases. Coordinate and carry out tactical offensives to foil the AFP's military offensives and defend the people against military abuses. Intensify efforts to expose the fascist abuses and counter the AFPs's psywar propaganda. Promote the national and democratic demands of the people in mass education/propaganda, campaigns and actions, as well as in negotiations with the reactionary government. Intensify the agrarian revolution and mobilize hundreds of thousands of peasants to struggle against feudal and semifeudal exploitation. Push forward the people's mass struggles against imperialism, feudalism and fascism. Intensify recruitment of more Party members and Red fighters both from the guerrilla fronts as well as from the urban mass movement.
Inspired by the revolutionary victories of the past year, the revolutionary forces will carry out their tasks with utmost vigor and resolve in 2011 and beyond. The Filipino people and their revolutionary forces will achieve ever bigger and unprecendented victories in the next years as they fulfill the requirements to advance the people's war from the strategic defensive to the strategic stalemate as set forth by the Party.
* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/01/afps-numerous-ceasefire-violations-and.html
* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/01/afps-numerous-ceasefire-violations-and.html
