The December 3 ambuscade by the red fighters of Conrado Heredia Command Front 20 Operations Command-New People’s Army against the troops of 25th infantry battalion (IB) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in gold-rich Brgy. Diwalwal, Monkayo town is nothing short of a glaring testament to the superiority of guerilla warfare, even in the midst of intensive military offensives of the enemy. What transpired during the Thursday afternoon ambush was an annihilation of a far more superior force — in terms of troop numbers and firepower — of the AFP, which, despite such advantage, stood powerless when it operated blindly in the lair of the people’s army rooted in mass base support and the guerilla principle of secrecy, surprise and speed.
The platoon-strong troops of the Alpha Company-25th IB were squarely hit at around 3 o’clock in the afternoon as they were heading back to their command post at Sitio Depot. The ambushed troops was part of the spread-out battalion clearing operation in the hinterlands of Monkayo.
Let the toll yield the egregious conclusion: as of late, seven have already been confirmed dead including their platoon leader, more than a dozen severely wounded and the red fighters’ armory freshly beefed up with the seizing of one light machine gun, two M16 rifles, one .45 caliber pistol and other military equipment. And as expected, 25th IB-AFP Commander Lt. Col. Gilbert Saret and the bigwigs of 10th ID-AFP took turns downplaying this latest military defeat in the media; a pathetically preposterous show of arrogance, coupled with assurances of ‘retaliation,’ but which the masses in Diwalwal have brushed off as mere patent lies.
The latest triumph in the people’s war parlays clear messages to the mercenary AFP and its high echelon and the blood-indebted US-Arroyo regime.
One, that so long as Arroyo vilely insists on accommodating the incursion of local and foreign large-scale mining capitalists in Diwalwal, the masses shall struggle against imminent dislocation and the People’s Army shall mount more military actions to thwart her plans.
Two, that so long as the anti-people Oplan Bantay Laya II continues to harp on about reducing the influence of the revolutionary movement to ‘inconsequential’ while in truth only victimizing hapless civilians and activists and terrorizing communities in the countryside, there shall thrive the objective conditions for the advance of the People’s War and the consequent isolation of the fascist reactionary government.
And third, that local government officials in Monkayo assume their mandated responsibilities to protect the welfare of the masses, lest suffer resounding defeat come May 2010 elections.
For reference:
Roel Agustin II
Conrado Heredia Command
Front 20 Operations Command
New People’s Army-Southern Mindanao
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