Military starts bomb attacks on suspected rebel lair

By FROILAN GALLARDO
Special Correspondent . 

THE military has started bombing suspected New People’s Army guerrilla bases in the Kalabugao plains near the boundaries of Northern Mindanao and Caraga ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Communist Party on Dec. 26.

Col. Edgardo de Leon, commander of the Army’s 403rd Infantry Brigade, said the bombings and military operations are focused in the mountain villages in the Kalabugao plains located along the boundaries of Agusan del Sur, Bukidnon and Misamis Oriental.

“We discovered a major NPA hideout that is probably a projected venue of the CPP anniversary celebration,” de Leon said.

An NPA source identified as Ka Emil confirmed the bombings have been going on in the past 13 days and have dislocated the Higaonons around barangays Hagpa and Calabugao in Impasug-ong town, Bukidnon.

He blamed the local government officials for allowing the military to “harass” the lumad.

“Classes were stopped as schoolchildren refused to go to school while the elderly and pregnant women left their villages to be with their relatives far away from the fighting,” Ka Emil said.

The Communist Party has declared a unilateral ceasefire starting on Dec. 24 midnight until Dec. 26 for the party’s 50th anniversary.

“No amount of military offensives by the AFP can stop the Filipino people and their revolutionary forces from mounting rallies and other mass gatherings and meetings all over the country to celebrate the Party’s achievements and victories,” the party’s statement published on its website, Philippine Revolution Web Central.

Unlike in the past, the government did not reciprocate the ceasefire offered by the communist and instead ordered its military forces to continue to hunt the rebels.

The threats by the communist rebels is one of the reasons cited by Congress to extend martial law in Mindanao for another year.