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Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Military braces for more rebel attacks
By Edwin G. Espejo
THE military here said they are prepared in any event the communist-led New People's Army (NPA) in Central Mindanao steps up its attacks against government targets.
Colonel Alfredo Cayton Jr., commanding officer of the Philippine Army's 601st Brigade stationed in Malungon, Sarangani, last week said there has been a lull in fighting between the NPA rebels and government soldiers following the capture of several rebel camps in the mountain ranges that connects Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato earlier in the year.
Last month, two government soldiers were slightly wounded when rebel forces exploded a land mine against patrolling soldiers belonging to the 27th Infantry Battalion in Baangay Danlag, Tampakan in South Cotabato.
But Cayton said the rebels have since been on the run, opting not to engage the military in a full-drawn battle.
"They have broke into small squads and are avoiding armed contact with our soldiers," Cayton said in an interview last week.
The military officer said the NPA under the Far South Mindanao Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines is capable of gathering over 100 fully armed regulars.
"That is excluding their territorial forces," he explained.
The NPAs operate at least four guerilla fronts in the Socsksargen area.
Last week, Ka Oris, spokesman of the National Democratic Front (NDF) said NPA units all over Mindanao have been ordered to launch tactical offensives against government targets to support clamor for the ouster of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
NDF spokesman also said that these "tactical offensives in Mindanao are the angry people's answer to US-Arroyo regime's plan to formally declare military rule and its continued illegitimate hold on power".
The NDF is the political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA).
Cayton, however, said that with the capture of at least two rebel camps, the NPAs are not in the position to pose a major threat to the security of the region.
(October 3, 2005 issue)
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