Military operation of the 29th IBPA under Oplan Bayanihan
met by NPA explosives, 17 dead*
Maria Malaya
NDF-North-Eastern Mindanao Region
April 12, 2011
The 29th IBPA under the 401st Brigade along with new graduates from the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) launched military operations and test missions in Surigao del Sur. Three troops from the 29th IBPA were harassed by small units of the NPA under Front 19 in the mountains of Marihatag and resulted in a misencounter.
Last March Marso 30, 2011 at around 6:30 in the afternoon, the first army group was sniped/harassed in the mountain area of Brgy. San Isidro, Marihatag, Surigao del Sur. Four (4) army men were reported killed.
Last March 31, 2011 at around 7:30 in the morning, an NPA team discharged command detonated explosives or CDX against the second army group. The third group was positioned in the higher ground and had nowhere to pass aside from the position where the CDX was detonated. Red fighters heard the army pronounce that they needed to contact the second army group to inform them that they will pass and help those hit by the CDX. The comrades did not hear any answer from the second army group hit by the CDX.
Not long Red Fighters from the NPA-Front 19 heard the firing of guns. The fire fight ended at around twelve o'clock (12:00) noon and started at seven forty five (7:45) in the morning. At around eleven (11:00) in the morning two helicopters strafed the mountain areas but failed to land. That same morning, six (6) canon mortars were fired and another was fired at around two o'clock (2:00) in the afternoon.
Ambulances were seen arriving and leaving by the highway in the afternoon. The comrades were able to gather information that there were seventeen (17) casualties from the enemy. More were killed in the half day misencounter between the two groups of the 29th IBPA. Friends of revolutionaries in the town and soldiers themselves confirmed that several were killed. There were also talks among the army that they fired quite a number of ammunitions in the half day fire fight.
The big question of soldiers launching military operations in the mountains to the junior officers and to their army officials in the companies, battalions and brigades: Why can't misencounters between troops operating in NPA areas be solved? It is a fact that more members of the army died because of misencounter.
Since I became a fulltime revolutionary in the mountains, this is a common occurrence. Comrades often report of soldiers involved in misencounters which resulted in soldiers being killed and wounded. This happens especially when army troops on foot are hit by the NPA during military operations. Misencounters that were made known in the airwaves were that between the PNP and army in Trento while the "prisoner of war" or POW who is a member of the PNP, was still in the hands of the custodial force of the NPA, just in February this year.
Since the start of Oplan Bayanihan in Caraga this 2011, during sustained military operations, there were three (3) instances of misencounters between army troops. The first was in Claver, Surigao del Norte, where a single shot was fired by an NPA sniper but there were two (2) dead bodies placed in cadaver bags carried by motorists and the wounded were carried in a carabao cart. The fire fight lasted more than an hour. This happened last January 31, 2011. The second was in the mountain areas of Marihatag, Surigao del Sur and the third in Trento, Agusan del Sur.
Aquino's sustained military operation design Oplan Bayanihan, will fail to defeat the New People's Army because they cannot cover all the areas in the guerrilla base. There are areas where platoon guerrillas are free to move about. The COPD or Community Organizing for Peace and Development operations which is no different from RSOT cannot deceive the peasantry because sooner or later the true fascist character of the reactionary army against the people is unmasked.
Thus, just like Oplan Bantay Laya 1 and 2, the deceitful Oplan Bayanihan will not succeed in making the NPA surrender, even with its maneuvers in the Peace Negotiations. The guiding principle of the revolutionary movement in the Peace Negotiation is the alliance against imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat-capitalism to liberate the Filipino people and lay the foundations of Genuine Democracy of the People and not be subservient to the constitution of the reactionary government of the Philippines.
Genuine peace can only be achieved upon the liberation of the Philippines from the rule of the Imperialist United States and the local ruling class.
* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/04/military-operation-of-29th-ibpa-under.html
