NPA punishes 41st IB for atrocities in Abra
May 17, 2007
Red fighters of the NPA’s Agustin Begnalen Command in Abra dealt heavy blows on the AFP in a series of four daring tactical offensives in Boliney town, south-central Abra. A total of ten army soldiers and a militiaman were killed, seven troopers wounded, and four army officers captured.
On May 13, the NPA launched sniping operations on a Cafgu-Army detatchment at Kilong-olao, Boliney, killing a militiaman. Two days later on May 15, the NPA captured four officers of the 77th IB at about 10:30 AM at a checkpoint set up by the NPA along the road between Sitio Villa Conchita, Barangay San Ramon, Manabo and Barangay Baoyan, Boliney.
Then on May 16 at 5:30 AM at the same spot, the NPA ambushed 50 operating soldiers belonging to the 3rd platoon of the A Coy of the 41st IB, killing eight soldiers and wounding seven others. The Red fighters seized five M16s, an M203, two M14s, 1,600 rounds of ammunition, eight ammo pouches, and five backpacks. The gunbattle lasted for 45 minutes. While administering first aid to the wounded soldiers and admonishing them to abandon the Arroyo regime and defect to the revolutionary movement, the NPA found out from them that a 30-man secondary unit of the 41st IB was scheduled to follow. The Red fighters then staged another ambush on the second enemy unit that arrived at 9:00 AM two kilometers away from the first ambush site. Two soldiers were killed and a yet undetermined number were wounded.
The army officers captured earlier were identified as 2Lt. Jeron Labrador Etrone, CO of “C” Coy, Sgt. Restino Angoluan Alabon, Sgt. Alexander Salvador Paulo, and Cpl. Benigno Eugenio Soriano Jr. Seized from them were two cal. 45 pistols. All their personal belongings were given back to them, including the two motorcycles on which they rode.
They were accorded the rights of prisoners of war. After establishing that they had no blood debts and records of human rights violations, they were released to the barangay officials and elders at about 2 PM the day they were captured at Barangay Baoyan, Boliney. The turnover was witnessed by the community people. They soldiers signed a waiver stating the fact that they were treated well and accorded the rights and privileges of POWs.
The NPA urged them to resign from the AFP or if not, they were enjoined to uphold the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) signed by the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front in 1998. They thanked the NPA profusely upon their release.
The villagers who witnessed the release had a common reaction: “Daytoy ti pakakitaan ti nagdumaan ti soldados ti umili ken ti soldados ti agar-ari a turay. Adda prinsipyo ti NPA. Respetaren da ti makatao a linteg ti gubat. Ti met militar, nakita mi mismo ti kinaranggas da. Awanan asi a pinatay da ni John Maximo a taga-Baoyan, simple a mannalon a kapadami mi. Pinabasol da isuna a kameng kano ti NPA uray no saan nga agpayso. Natay la ngaruden, rinanggasan da pay ti bangkay na. Awan duadua a mangabak ti rebolusyonaryo a tignayan ti umili ken NPA!” (”This shows the difference between the people’s army and the soldiers of the ruling regime. The NPA is principled and respects the humanitarian rules of war. In contrast, we have witnessed with our own eyes the military’s brutality. They mercilessly killed John Maximo of Baoyan who was a simple peasant like us. They falsely blamed him of being an NPA member. After killing him, they even desecrated his remains. Doubtless, the revolutionary movement of the people and the NPA will win!”)
These successful offensives serve as continuing punitive actions against the military in response to the Boliney and Abra people’s long-ignored clamor for justice. The 41st IB, currently headed by Lt. Col. Raul V. Bautista, is notorious for its criminal acts and a long list of human rights abuses in Abra. It has been incessantly sowing terror among the people in all its areas of operation.
The batallion has a bloody record of torturing and killing of civilians and activists and forcibly using civilians as human shields. Its troops murdered Talog Bangoey and wounded Pilnan Dumel-ac in Ud-udiao, Sallapadan on July 24, 2004. In an encounter with the NPA in Lenneng, Baay-Licuan on October 12, 2005, they forcibly dragged Francisco Tangbawan, Junie Brillantes and Noriel Tuangin and used them as human shields, resulting in the death of Tangbawan and the wounding of his two companions. The 41st IB’s death squad is responsible for the extrajudicial killing of activist Albert Terredaño, a government employee in Bangued on November 29, 2005. On April 2007, they tortured to death John Maximo in Baoyan, Boliney. His mutilated body was found in his hut in a swidden farm by his nephew, who until now has not recovered from shock.
The civilian population has also been continually subjected to other forms of harassment and intimidation such as illegal searches, illegal arrests and detention. Indiscriminate bombings, machinegun strafing and mortar shelling have disrupted peaceful communities and wrought havoc on the peasants’ agricultural production. The Arroyo regime has been using the 41st IB to quell the people’s opposition to mining companies and facilitate the entry of these destructive firms.
Thus, the 41st IB deserves the wrath of the people and the armed revolutionary movement for terrorizing both the Tinggian and Iloco communities in the hinterlands and plains of Abra and for serving the rapacious interests of local and foreign mining corporations that threaten the people’s livelihood and environment with destruction.
The military actions launched by the Agustin Begnalen Command are also in response to the CPP Central Committee’s directive to further intensify guerilla warfare against the onslaught of the Arroyo regime’s Oplan Bantay Laya II, which vainly hopes to crush the armed revolutionary movement before the end of Arroyo’s term on 2010. The ABC is determined to continue contributing to the nationwide effort of frustrating this rehashed counter-revolutiona ry military campaign. Like all previous counter-insurgency operational plans, Bantay Laya II is doomed to fail, as the armed revolutionary movement continues to surge forward amidst the worsening economic and political crisis of the ruling system.
The tactical offensives launched by the NPA also serve as inspiration for the broad masses to advance the struggle for their democratic rights and to further strengthen the anti-Arroyo movement until this rabidly puppet, rotten and facist regime is ousted from power. #