Three Armed Forced of the Philippines (AFP) soldiers were killed in a firefight in Mansalay town, Oriental Mindoro last July 11, the Lucio de Guzman Command of the New People’s Army (NPA) reported.
In a post on the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) website, the NPA said three government troopers belonging to the 203rd Brigade of the Philippine Army (PA) were killed while a NPA guerilla was wounded.
The NPA said the 203rd Infantry Battallion of the PA had been launching “focused military operations” against them since June in the towns of Mansalay and Roxas in Oriental Mindoro and San Jose and Magsaysay towns in Occidental Mindoro.
In a post on one of its social media pages, the PA acknowledged the armed encounter with the NPA last July 11 but was silent on casualties suffered.
The government military said it was able to confiscate an assault rifle belonging to the NPA.
Despite deploying a battalion-sized assault force in addition to an attack helicopter, however, the NPA said they were able to successfully defend themselves and inflict casualties on their enemies.
In retaliation, the government troopers made local farmers and indigenous Mangyan as their targets, the NPA reported.
“The soldiers arrested Sitio Lukban leader Itaw Ramunyan, followed by two more arrests of Mangyan-Hanunuo tribespeople in Bulalacao town,” the NPA said.
“These acts of terrorism and military operations against farming and indigenous peoples’ communities fuel the Mindoreños’ rage against the fascist soldiers,” NPA-Mindoro spokesperson Ka Madaay Gasic said.
At the start of 2024, the AFP and their commander in chief President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. predicted the total defeat of the NPA by the end of the year.
Continuing recruitment
The CPP however said NPA recruitment “continues steadily…in the face of worsening oppression and political repression.”
In a statement on the eve of Marcos Jr.’s third State of the Nation Address last week, CPP chief information officer Marco Valbuena said the Filipino people are determined to fight for their rights, defend their livelihood, and fight for a better future for their children, “in the face of the increasingly brutal, corrupt, and oppressive Marcos puppet regime.”
The CPP added that declarations by AFP chief of staff Gen. Carlito Galvez that the country will be NPA-free in three years are “pure wishful thinking.”
“This is a simple rehash of declarations made in the past thirty years. As before, such pronouncements will be proven hollow brags,” Valbuena said.
The CPP scored the government’s “martial law tactics,” including the killing 175 reported victims who were mostly peasants.
Last July 8, 2nd IB soldiers opened fire and killed siblings Robert and Ronel Monsanto, 18 and 22, while tending to their farm animals in Barangay Aguho, Esperanza, Masbate, the CPP reported.
On June 5, the 74th IB opened fire on 11 farmers, including seven minors in Sitio Canonghan, Barangay Osmeña, Palapag, Northern Samar, it added.
“They were later rounded up and brought to a military camp, and falsely linked to the NPA. These are just some recent examples of the brutal forms of armed suppression perpetrated by Marcos against the people,” Valbuena said.
“Marcos’ tyrannical rule teaches the people that only by taking up arms and joining the NPA can they effectively defend their lives and fight for their rights and aspirations,” the CPP spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, there have been no further statements since both the Marcos Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines announced dialogues on the possible resumption of formal peace negotiations to end the armed conflict. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
