Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The Truth Behind the Encounters between the Philippine Army and the NPA

The Truth Behind the Encounters between the Philippine Army and the NPA*


Ka Frank Fernandez
NDF-Negros
June 13, 2011

Base on the reports received by the NDF-Negros office from the Roselyn Pelle Command and the Mt.Talines Command show that the 302nd and 303rd Bdes Phil Army reports and their psywar propagandists regarding accounts of the said incidents are tainted with lies.

The continous fabrications of lies by Lt Col Gubat and Col Jonas Sumagaysay and their psywar specialists like SSGT Batoy Imbang, state that the encounters of their troops against the NPA last April 14 in Dugma, Malatas, Calatrava resulted in the death of 5 NPA and the wounding of 9 others. The truth is while 15 elements of the 62nd IB PA were resting in a hut, a unit of the NPA nearby monitored the enemy’s presence. The NPA command after analyzing the military situation at hand decided to launch a tactical offensive by secretly approaching the target. Because the enemy unit was too tired after a clearing operation, it never notice the approaching NPA fighters. The soldiers were startled by the first volley of concentrated fire that resulted to four KIA and many WIAs. Some enemy soldiers were able to get out of the hut and scampered for safety. The NPA CO believing that military reinforcements were just nearby decided to withdraw immediately without taking the rifles of the dead soldiers and the wounded who could no longer fight.

With regards to the other encounter between the 2nd Scout Ranger and a unit of the NPA in Sitio Abocado, Talalac, Sta Catalina, Negros Oriental last May 3, military officials and psywar specialists reported that many NPAs were wounded. Because the incident was first leaked to the mass media, Phil Army officials wa forced to admit on the death of Capt Montenegro and the wounding of another soldier. However field reports gathered show that the Scout Ranger unit suffered more that two casualties. In order to cover-up and trim down news reports of the casualties of the SR units the military harped on the psy-war issue on the fantasized case of rape committed by a certain Ka Demlan against an under-aged amazon.

The two incidents above are just part of numerous cases of lies by the Phil Army based on it’s official policy of hiding their casualties in the mass media. However they negate this policy as they “reason” out that families of dead soldiers need to know the truth so they can get their pensions and benefits. But what the public didn’t know, the Phil Army transported its KIAs and WIAs aboard a helicopter and usually ferry these to funeral parlors in Cebu City to avoid the highly alert mass media in Bacolod City.

* Url:http://theprwcblogs.blogspot.com/2011/06/truth-behind-encounters-between.html