4ID, rebels cite gains as NPA turns 47

By CONG B. CORRALES
Associate Editor

BOTH the communist insurgents and state security forces claimed to have the upper hand in the decades long conflict even as the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) commemorated its 47th founding anniversary yesterday.

In e-mailed statements, Ka Norsen Manggubat, CPP-North Central Mindanao spokesperson, and Maj. Gen. Benjamin Madrigal, commander of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, both celebrated their victories in time for the Maoist combatants’ anniversary.

“Today is the supposed anniversary of the New People’s Army, but we are celebrating the triumph of our soldiers,” Madrigal’s message reads in part.

Madrigal noted that 22 military encounters in the past month against the NPA led to the discovery of its main camp in Caraga and have resulted in the killing of three rebels, seizure of M14 rifles, six AK47 rifles, four landmines, four hand-held radios, 17 rounds of 60mm munitions, and five rounds of 81mm mortars.

He also lauded soldiers for recovering subsersive documents with “high intelligence value.”

For his part, Manggubat opened his statement by recognizing 11 “revolutionary martyrs and heroes” since March last year, including “two red commanders and two members of the people’s militia.”

“Five of them died due to illness and accidents, and six were killed in the line of fire. Let us give them the highest salute,” Manggubat’s statement reads in part.

Manggubat said three mass evacuations took place because of the threats of militarization which he blamed on government troops and bandits. He said these involved some 300 families in Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon.

“With every defeat suffered by the reactionary troops in the clashes, they turn to civilians in retaliation,” said Manggubat.

He said over 150,000 peasants and their families have benefited from the increased wages of farm  workers, lowered rice and corn mill fees, crop-price increases, easy access to potable drinking water, less risky operations of mechanical dryers, and increased share of rice field “maintainers.”