Thursday, March 28, 2024

Mga napatay nga NPA sa Malaybalay gilubong na

Gilubong na sa Malaybalay City Cemetery sa Sityo Gabunan, Brgy. Casisang ang pito ka mga myembro sa New People’s Army (NPA) buntag sa Disyembre 29, 2023

Ang pito mao sila si Bebot Sulinay, Louie Bada, Penita Singaman, magtiayong NPA Leader nga sila si Alfredo Banawan ug Beverly Sinunda, ilang anak nga si Angely Banawan ug isa ka Analyn.

Sila lakip sa napulo ka mga NPA nga napatay sa militar sa hilit nga bahin sa Sitio Kiito, Brgy. Can-ayan, Malaybalay City kaniadtong Disyembre 25, 2023.

Mahinumduman nga ang militar migamit sa ilang bag-ong napalit nga mga asset sa ilang operasyon batok sa maong grupo kinsa giingon nga nangandam alang sa anibersaryo sa Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) sa Disyembre 26, 2023. (Diego M. Hidalgo)

Cadaver of slain top NPA leader in Northern Mindanao now with family

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Military and police officials handed over the remains of the slain top communist rebel leader, Dionisio Micabalo, to his family last July 29, 2023, in a small courtyard outside a funeral parlor in Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental

Brigadier General Adonis Ariel Orio, commanding officer of the Philippine Army’s 402nd Infantry Brigade, said the cadaver of Micabalo, alias “Muling,” was turned over to his siblings, Ronelo and Fely, who came to Gingoog City, along with officials from Dangcagan municipality in Bukidnon, to fetch his corpse.

Orio said the 61-year-old New People’s Army (NPA) leader hailed from Dangcagan town, and his family wanted him to be buried there.

“There was no hassle. As soon as the PNP (Philippine National Police) and my soldiers ascertained their identities, his remains were turned over to the family,” Orio said.

Micabalo, who was secretary general of the NPA North Central Mindanao Regional Committee, was killed during a brief firefight with soldiers from the Philippine Army’s 58th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Libertad, Gingoog City, last July 27.

Colonel Christian Uy, 58th Infantry Battalion commander, said they have been tracking the movements of Micabalo after he transferred to Gingoog City from Mt. Pantaron range in Bukidnon, where the latter was previously based.

Orio said that with Micabalo gone, a young rebel leader named “Kumander Rida,” a former student from Cagayan de Oro City is expected to become the next secretary general of the NPA North Central Mindanao Regional Committee.

During his second State of the Nation Address on July 24, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he will issue a proclamation granting amnesty to rebel returnees. He asked Congress for support on this matter.

But Marco Valbuena, Communist Party of the Philippines information officer, rejected the offer of Marcos, calling it “a treacherous offer of amnesty and surrender.” (Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews)

7 NPA rebels neutralized in Caraga, Northern Mindanao

BUTUAN CITY — The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Sunday, June 25, reported significant gains against communist rebels in the Caraga and Northern Mindanao regions

Major Francisco P. Garello Jr., chief of the Public Affairs Office (PAO) of the Army 4th Infantry (Diamond) Division, said that seven New People’s Army rebels were neutralized and several war materials, including 20 high-powered weapons, were captured in the hinterland areas of Butuan City, Claveria, Misamis Oriental; and Malaybalay City, Bukidnon on Friday, June 16, and Saturday, June 17.
Garello said these are a “testament to the AFP’s continuous efforts to finish the dwindling Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) in the military and police joint operational area to attain just and lasting peace in Northeastern and Northern Mindanao regions.”
He revealed that the alleged secretary of the Guerrilla Front-30 (GF-30) of the CPP-NPA Northeastern Mindanao Regional Committee (NEMRC) surrendered to the Army 36th Infantry Battalion (IB) in Barangay Puyat, Carmen, Surigao del Sur on Thursday, June 22.
“All field units under the operational and administrative control (Opcon) of the 4th ID in Northeastern (Caraga) and Northern Mindanao regions are in focus military operations (FMO) in their respective areas of responsibilities (AOR) while they are also ready to accept and welcome communist insurgents who wanted to go back to the folds of the law and avail the government’s peace and development program,” Garello said.
He added that 4th ID chief Major Gen. Jose Maria Cuerpo II commended field units for the continuous gains in their AORs against the already dwindling communist terrorist group.
Meanwhile, the PRO-13 reported that “Kumander Jhon-Jhon,” vice commanding officer, and wife, “Ka Fiona,” a medical and supply officer of the NPA, voluntarily surrendered to the 1st Surigao del Sur Provincial Mobile Force Company in Barangay Poblacion, Cagwait, Surigao del Sur, recently.
PRO-13 Director Police Brig. Gen. Pablo G. Labra II said the couple belonged to the Sandatahang Yunit Pampropaganda Platoon 16C2, Guerilla Front Committee 16, Sub-Regional Committee Northland, of the CPP-NPA Northeastern Mindanao Regional Committee (NEMRC).
They turned over a 60mm mortar and a caliber .38 revolver with bullets.
“The uncertainty of their future in the terrorist movement and the desire to give their families a peaceful life gave them the courage to abandon the CTG,” Labra said. “Several former rebels who surrendered to the government are now living peacefully.” (Mike Crismundo/Manila Bulletin)

NPA weapons seized in Bukidnon, Surigao

BUTUAN CITY – The military recovered high-powered firearms in two encounters with the New People’s Army in Bukidnon and Surigao del Sur on April 30 and May 2

Major Francisco P. Garello Jr., chief of the 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office (PAO), said the 1st Special Forces Battalion led by Lt. Col. Roger Anthony E. Nuylan Jr. under the 403rd Infantry (Peacemaker) Brigade captured three M16 Armalite rifles, magazines and live ammunition, backpacks, medical kits with assorted medicines, and personal belongings after a gun battle in Cambangon, Barangay Lilingayon, Valencia City, Bukidnon on April 30.

“Out-gunned and out-positioned, the rebels ran away in different directions, dragging along with them their undetermined number of casualties, after a 25-minute fierce firefight,” Garello said.

He said troops are pursuing the fleeing 30 fully armed combined elements of the Platun Ipad and Platun Huawei of the Sub-Regional Committee 5 (SRC5) of the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA North Central Mindanao Regional Committee (NCMRC) in Cambangon.

Nuylan said they have been pursuing them since last month.

“We have been tracking the same terrorist group we encountered last April 12 in Bubong, Lanao del Sur,” he said.

“They continue evading our troops due to exhaustion with limited ammunition and food supplies. But we will pursue them, we will not give them breathing space until they realize the futility in fighting the government and that the only option left for them is to surrender voluntarily,” Nuylan added.

Two days later on May 2 in Barangay Maitum, Tandag City, Surigao del Sur, the 2nd Scout Ranger Battalion (SRBn) under the operational control of the 901st Infantry Brigade encountered 10 communist guerillas believed to be members of the weakened Guerilla Front 30 of the CPP-NPA Northeastern Mindanao Regional Committee (NEMRC).

Soldiers recovered an AK-47 rifle, a grenade, and assorted personal belongings and supplies after the skirmish.

Troops were responding to reports regarding the presence of NPA rebels in the barangay extorting food supplies and conducting recruitment when the encounter occurred, Brig. Gen. George Banzon, commanding general of the Army 901st Infantry Brigade, said.

No casualty was reported on the government side in the two encounters. (Mike Crismundo/Manila Bulletin)

CPP Southern Mindanao Committee key officials arrested in Malaysia

Ang alleged key official of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) was arrested and deported from Malaysia

The Philippine National Police (PNP) said Eric Jun Baring Casilao and his wife May were arrested by the Malaysian Police at the Langkawi immigration check-in counter on April 1, 2023, while en route to Thailand via a ferry boat using fake travel documents.

They were detained for violating Malaysian Immigration laws before being deported back to the Philippines on April 17.

The PNP said the Casilaos fled to Malaysia to elude arrest here in the Philippines.

The couple has standing arrest warrants over murder, attempted murder, kidnapping and serious illegal detention charges.

Eric has a P5.4 million reward bounty on his head. He was put on the Malaysian Red Notice List through the request of the PNP for falsification of his passport by assuming a fake identity.

Casilao is allegedly the secretary of the Southern Mindanao Regional Committee and a member of the CPP Central Committee. He is a brother of former Anakpawis Party-list Representative Ariel Casilao.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said he is “considered the most wanted Communist Terrorist Group leader in Southeastern Mindanao, notorious for staging numerous atrocities in the Davao Region and other neighboring regions under the SMRC.” (SunStar Philippines)

Madlos frequented CDO for medical treatment – Army

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews / 2 Nov) – Rebel leader Jorge Madlos aka “Ka Oris” had reportedly suffered from kidney failure and frequented this city to seek medical treatment in the months before he was allegedly slain in an encounter with government troops in Bukidnon last weekend, even as the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said that Madlos “remained healthy and strong until his last years.”

Lt. Gen. Greg Almerol, chief of the Armed Forces’ Eastern Mindanao Command, said Madlos traveled to Cagayan de Oro from Cebu before going to Bukidnon where a massive military operation finally caught up with him.

“Here in Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon, the NPA has a network of supporters who are doctors and nurses who can attend to Madlos,” he said.

Almerol said Madlos, 72, who hails from Dapa in Siargao Island in Surigao del Norte, had been suffering from kidney failure and used to come down to Cagayan de Oro for his dialysis treatment.

A source in Cagayan de Oro said he used to administer intravenous medication to Madlos until it stopped more than a year ago.

The source said he once accompanied the rebel leader to a hospital in Cagayan de Oro where blood samples were taken.

“Madlos did not alight from the vehicle. He had his blood sample taken right inside the vehicle by a sympathetic nurse,” the source narrated.

Maj. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., commander of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division based here, said there was no doubt that Madlos enjoyed a network of doctors and nurses in Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon who were either his friends or sympathizers.

He said Madlos graduated from the state-owned Central Mindanao University in Musuan, Bukidnon.

But CPP spokesman Marco Valbuena denied that Madlos had been frequenting this city for dialysis.

“If he regularly needed to have dialysis, he would not last long in the guerilla zone,” he said over Messenger. Valbuena pointed out that it was Brawner who said that Madlos had been in the guerilla area for long.

He said that Madlos remained healthy and strong and “even joined in guerrilla maneuvers in the face of intense military operations” in the last few months.

Valbuena admitted, though, that the rebel leader had to live with a damaged urinary bladder after he was denied treatment when he was imprisoned from 1987 to 1992. “But it was not life-threatening or debilitating,” he stressed.