The NPA, however, claimed to have stepped-up their offensives in Southern Mindanao, saying that at least 46 were killed on the AFP and the Philippine National Police (PNP) side in Tagum City, Davao del Norte; Boston and Baganga, Davao Oriental; Compostela, Nabunturan; and New Bataan, Compostela Valley, according to a statement by Rigoberto F. Sanchez, NPA spokesperson.
Lt. Gen. Cardozo Luna, Eastern Mindanao Command Area Commander, accused the NPA of hitting “soft targets” such as business establishments and carrying out extortion activities. “They want to have money through extortion.” Luna said they’re going to put a stop to the NPAs extortion activities.
But intensified military operations against the Communist rebels only displaced civilians. On January 30 this year, the aerial bombings in Baganga town by the 67th Infantry Battalion of the AFP led to the forced evacuation of 330 families, including close to a thousand children, according to human rights group Karapatan..
Displaced were residents from the boundary of Campawan and San Victor; and Sitio Bagumbayan, San Victor; and 80 families from Cateel, Davao Oriental.
Ata-Manobo families also fled their homes in Talaingod, Davao del Norte, following the joint operations of the 73rd IB-AFP and the Army Scout Rangers, early last month.
According to the lumad group Pasaka, 17 villages including Tibukag, Purok 31, Paiton, Purok 17, Dalingding, Tibugaw, Natampod, Labuo, Duryan, Tambuko, Mahindang, Nalubas, Lasakan, Sasu, Bagang, Pongpong and Nasilaban were affected. Pasaka also reported that military soldiers encamped in the lumads’ homes and schools, and divested the residents of their properties.
But the military earlier denied this. Later, the 73rd IB recently admitted that the Army Scout Rangers — now reassigned in Bulacan — were responsible for the abuses against the lumads. The military promised to indemnify the victims.
Talaingod Mayor Pilar Libayao and Davao del Norte Rodolfo del Rosario, also denied the incident of forced evacuation in the area.
Meanwhile, Esperon has been visiting military camps in Mindanao to ensure that counter-insurgency plans against the NPA are being implemented.
In Cagayan de Oro, Esperon told the media that the term all-out war implies that it is bloody, violent or involves evacuations. The military’s counter-insurgency approach is a “wholistic war,” involving combat intelligence, civil and military operations; political, economic and social activities of the AFP and the government, he said.
Rubi del Mundo, National Democratic Front (NDF) spokesperson in Southern Mindanao said the local peace assemblies were only made to boost the morale of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), in the wake of the crippling tactical offensives of the NPA. “(The LPSA) is merely part of the orchestra to hide the series of military losses in the region and elsewhere,” he said. (Marilou M. Aguirre/davaotoday.com)
