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Friday, June 23, 2006
Arroyo orders protection for traders v. rebel extortion
PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Thursday directed the military to protect businessmen who are being victimized by "revolutionary taxation" in the renewed fight against the communist New People's Army (NPA).
Addressing the three Army battalions that will assigned to NPA infested areas gathered in Camp Aguinaldo, Arroyo said many businessmen have complained to her during her visits throughout the country about their plight against the communists.
She said she informed Armed Forces Chief Generoso Senga of the businessmen's plight during a telephone conversation and relayed her instructions to make adjustments to address the concern.
Arroyo said there is a need for the military establishment to protect businessmen from the atrocities of the communists, saying they (businessmen) are the ones who are giving jobs to the countrymen.
She also said the victims of the NPA taxation are expecting that the military will intervene on their plight.
The three Army battalions were pulled out from Mindanao to take part in the government's renewed fight to cripple the communist movement, which has been waging the armed struggle for 37 years already.
During a visit in the NPA-infested province of Isabela last Friday, the President released P1 billion in additional funds to the military and the police to bolster their capability to fight the communists.
Shortly thereafter, Presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor said the President wants that the communist insurgency finished in two years, specifically in the critically areas in Southern Tagalog, Central Luzon and Sorsogon province.
The President congratulated the troops for a job well done in Mindanao. "We have been successful in Mindanao and we know and we are confident that you'll be as successful in your (new) assignment," Arroyo said.
Arroyo said the Mindanao is "on the verge of lasting and permanent peace." She said: "Thanks to your good work. And now you are here for a new assignment and we wish you the best and we hope you will be as successful in your new assignment as you have been in your assignment in Mindanao," she said.
Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr. said they are now recalling some of the newly-recruited and newly-trained officers to form new battalions that would be comprised of "younger and stronger" forces.
Cruz said this is under the "battalion upgrade program" where they would continue to train the teams for four to six months. The training includes indoctrination on counterinsurgency and counter-terrorism, improvement of physical fitness and discipline, and trainings and orientation on marksmanship and cultural sensitivity.
He said they also provide two weeks to five months "combat lifesavers training" to enable a soldier to treat or even stitch up wounds.
Cruz said the new battalions would be deployed mostly in Central Luzon (Region III), Southern Luzon (Region IV) and Bicol Region (Region V) and would go after the insurgent groups particularly in areas where the engineering battalions are undertaking infrastructure and other socio-civic programs.
He expressed confidence that with the improved forces going after the insurgents while the delivery of basic social services and development projects goes unhampered, they would be able to meet the six to 10-year goal that the defense department and the Armed Forces have set for themselves in licking the NPA threat.
The President after meeting with the returning battalions from Mindanao proceeded to visit some 20 soldiers who were wounded mostly in encounters and ambuscades conducted by the NPA in different parts of the country.
The soldiers, some of them aged 27 and 28 years old, are confined at the Heroes' Ward of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Medical Center in V. Luna in Quezon City. Some of them have been receiving treatment and therapy as early as November 2005 while some of them have been hospitalized as late as June this year.
The President, during the visit, assured them there would be jobs still waiting for them, including those who may have been maimed during their deployment like those whose bones were shattered after being hit by a bullet, lost a leg, an arm or have been paralyzed from the waist down.
She said they may avail of some livelihood assistance offered by the government or even apply in the jobs fair being sponsored by government like the "Jobs, Livelihood and Training Fair for the Differently-Abled soldiers and their dependents."
Arroyo told Corporal Angel Mora, a victim of a land mine operation planted by the NPA in North Cotabato while they were on a civic and medical mission that he could consider a career in call centers as it doesn't require him to go around. Mora, who sustained his injuries on Dec. 16, 2005, was paralyzed from the waist down.
She visit all the 20 soldiers exchanging chitchats in Bisaya with Ernesto Ayunar, a Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) from Misamis Oriental who lost his arm in an ambush last April and Private First Class (PFC) Marcial Pabayahay whose left eye was wounded during an encounter.
Arroyo also assured PFC Sydney Biazong who lost his right leg in March in an encounter in Bukidnon that he would get an artificial leg and teased PFC Leonard Muñoz who sustained injuries in the chest during a June 7 encounter in Lopez in Quezon that government force should have won in that fight.
The President also exchange fond memories with PFC Christopher Bais who suffered injury in his arm during an ambuscade in November in Pagadian where her "personal frien"" Sultan Abdul Markaban, president of the banaragys league of Pagadian died. Bais said Markaban was in the first vehicle which was first hit during the attack.
Private First Class Romel Mahalunbay and Second Lieutenant Sulpicio Rios told Arroyo that they are raring to return to action and to eventually get back on the rebels who caused their injuries to which the President wished them luck and full recovery.
Senga said he expects the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the NPA to shift their focus to a legal battle following the government's renewed fight to crush the communist movement.
Senga said a shift to the legal battle might work against the military though.
"You know they are very adept at going around our democratic system, they are exploiting it and that is of course to our disadvantage," said Senga, adding that there are means to counter this anticipated rebel strategy. He did not elaborate.
Senga said the military intends to use a combination of intelligence operations, combat operations and civil military operations to end the insurgency problem. He said the military would act in coordination with other agencies of government.
"This will be done in a very deliberate manner, in accordance with our campaign plan, the area commanders, they will execute or implement the campaign plans as necessary in their respective areas of responsibility," said Senga.
Senga said the military operations are only aimed at addressing the military component of the communist movement. "The bigger program of the government is to eliminate the roots of insurgency, which is poverty, ignorance, disease," he said.
"Our military operations will just be part of it, we will address the armed threat to our security and then the other aspects of insurgency will be addressed by the other agencies of government, we are going to help each other," Senga added.
Senga clarified that it was only Defensor who said the President wants to end the insurgency in two years. "What I understand and the President keeps on saying this that before her term ends, she wants that the insurgency problem is already beyond that," he said.
"So that is what we will try to do. We'll try to accomplish that. This is for all of us. This is not only for the Armed Forces, this is not only for the government, this is for all the Filipino people," said Senga.
Senga said the country has suffered from the "ill effects of the insurgency problem" for more than 30 years. "So I think it's about time that we help each other. Once this is finished, then we can accelerate socio-economic development in our country," he said.
Meanwhile, Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles criticized the strengthened campaign against the communist rebels saying "it's the corrupt government that's creating the insurgency and not the rebels from the New People's Army."
"The NPAs are not creating the situation for insurgency. It's the corrupt government that's creating insurgency and their collaboration with foreign and local capitalists to disenfranchise the poor," Arguelles added.
Arguelles said instead of allotting P1 billion to fight the NPA, the government must used the money to fund projects that would alleviate the conditions of poor Filipinos.
Arguelles said the reason why many people from the countryside join the rebewl movement is because the government failed to provide a clear program that would address poverty, particularly in the rural areas. (VR/JMR/MSN/Sunnex)
(June 23, 2006 issue)
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