10th ID-PA-AFP, guilty of public disinformation;
71st IB troops ambushed part of a full combat operation*
Anvil Guinto
Crucifino Uballas Command,
NPA-Southern Mindanao
10 May 2011
The NPA's Crucifino Uballas Command-Front 2 Operations Command slams the 10th Infantry Division-Philippine Army for spreading malicious disinformation to the public and the media surrounding the May 4 NPA ambush in Barangay Tibagon, Pantukan, Compostela Valley. Troops of the 71st IB's Charlie Company were not on search-and-rescue operations when hit by a platoon of Red fighters from the CUC-NPA. Truth to tell, they were on combat operations.
In a bid to gain public sympathy and put the Red fighters in the bad light, the 10th ID-PA immediately claimed its troops were in the area for a rescue mission following the landslide in Barangay King-king, Pantukan. But in fact, their activities connected to the mining area were already halted. They shifted to their regular combat operation as manifested the deployment of three columns of 71st IB troops. All indications would only show that the 10th ID-PA shamelessly used the natural disaster in Barangay King-king as an added cover for their combat operations.
Lt. Col. Lyndon Paniza, 10th ID-AFP spokesman, is pathetic when he accuses the NPA of "acting out of cowardice and desperation" regarding the May 4 ambush. There is no cowardice in springing an ambush against a fully-armed enemy combat unit conducting combat operations in an area long considered by the AFP as a combat zone. Cowards are those who threaten and harm unarmed peasants and lumads and use civilian facilities in the barangays for military purposes in the conduct of their duplicitous special operations. Desperate are those who vent their ire against civilians after casualties in attacks launched by the People's Army.
The 10th ID-PA's effort to create a distorted picture of reality, deceive the people and demonize the NPA is in line with the 2009 US Counter-Insurgency Guide. But however deceitful these US puppets and pawns are, their deceptions end as failures.
