4th ID claims significant victories against region’s Maoist rebels

By FROILAN GALLARDO
Special Correspondent .

THE military in Mindanao has claimed significant victories against the New People’s Army as soldiers destroyed scores of firearms they seized from Maoist rebels during a series of encounters in the past eight months.

“I don’t want to say we are winning but we have downgraded five guerrilla fronts since January,” said Maj. Gen. Ronald Villanueva on Wednesday as soldiers tore up firearms they seized from rebels.

Villanueva cited the key central Mindanao province of Bukidnon, which used to have an active guerrilla front.

Using an industrial saw, soldiers broke up 75 firearms, including two M60 machines, taken from the rebels.

Villanueva said the firearms were part of the 740 firearms the Armed Forces’ Eastern Command took since January this year in Mindanao.

“That is for this year alone. If we included those we seized last year, it would be some 1,040 firearms,” he told reporters.

Villanueva said the AFP Eastern Command captured at least 300 rebel camps spread through out Mindanao. He said most of these camps were equipped with containers of rice, medicine, firearms, and ammunition.

The AFP Eastern Command is fighting the bulk of the concentration of NPA rebels in Mindanao.

Officials said the 4th Infantry Division is fighting some 700 to 800 armed guerrillas in northeastern Mindanao.

The military inventoried 593 firearms that were confiscated, surrendered and recovered from the NPA and are part of at least 1,040 assorted guns that are now in the possession of the Army’s Eastern Mindanao Command.

Of the 593, about 79 of these, classified by the military as “non-standard,” were sawn off and set on fire.

Villanueva said the weapons were destroyed so these could no longer pose a threat to the public.

“One firearm may harm a lot of people,” Villanueva told reporters at the sidelines of the decommissioning ceremony at the 4ID grandstand.

Villanueva said the collection of firearms was the result of a series of military operations conducted by the 4ID within its area of responsibility – particularly in Bukidnon and some parts of the Caraga Region – where soldiers engaged NPA units operating in those areas.

Among the destroyed weaponry included AK-47, M-16 and M-1 rifles, M-60 machine guns, shotguns, and various types of side arms. The firearms were cut into pieces and some parts were burned so they could not be used again.

Aside from neutralizing the weapons, Villanueva said many of the firearms that were not subjected for demilitarization were also used as evidence in court or turned over to the police and other law enforcement agencies.

Some, especially those used by insurgents who had surrendered, were placed under the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-Clip) of the government.

Meanwhile, Villanueva said the 4ID’s “relentless combat offensives” resulted in the dismantling of some 300 rebel camps, seizure of weapons, food supplies and medicines, and explosives that were buried on the ground. (with reports from PNA)