The government military’s human rights violations can only strengthen the New People’s Army (NPA) particularly in the Visayas region, the underground group’s Negros Island Regional Operation Command said.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) “flagrant attacks” against civilians, innocent farmers and hors de combat NPA fighters are prodding the people to fight back, the revolutionary army’s Apolinario Gatmaitan Command spokesperson Maoche Legislador said in a statement.
In a reaction to AFP Visayas Command chief Lt. Gen. Benedict Arevalo’s assertion of a “remarkable combat accomplishment” by government soldiers in weakening the NPA in the region, Legislador said the former’s claim is nothing but “hallucination”.
Legislador added that Arevalo’s statement are, in reality, based upon the “murderous rampage” of his troops against civilian communities in Western, Central and Eastern Visayas.
“AFP’s monstrosity spans from red-tagging, threats and harassment, fake encounters, abductions and enforced disappearances, cold-blooded killings, forced surrenders, illegal arrest and detention, deception, aerial bombings and artillery shelling of communities and other human rights violations,” the regional NPA spokesperson said.
Legislador said that around 300 cases of human rights abuses affecting over 24,000 individuals were perpetrated by the 302nd and 303rd Brigade of the Philippine Army, 27 cases of which victimized more than 50 children in Negros Island alone.
“Arevalo…is on hallucinogens… the mastermind of all ceaseless state-sponsored crimes and state terrorism that has victimized the people of the Visayas. He is also the main spinner of lies and deceit,” Legislador said.
He also cited the AFP’s claim that the massacred Fausto family in Brgy. Buenavista, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental last June 14 were “reinforcements” of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the NPA in Negros Island.
‘Strategic victory over the NPA’
Earlier this week, military spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar also claimed the AFP has achieved “strategic victory” over the NPA, claiming further the revolutionary army has only 1,800 active members left.
In a National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) press conference last Monday, June 10, Aguilar said 400 of the 1,800 NPA fighters are already identified and are the subject of “focused military operations.”
Aguilar added that more than 600 NPA members were either recently killed in combat operations or voluntarily surrendered to the government.
“We should end the local armed conflict now. We cannot let them stay for another 50 years,” Aguilar said, adding the AFP intends to eliminate the NPA’s remaining active fronts this year.
Aguilar called on to local government units to bring social services to communities known to be influenced by the NPA.
Intensified armed encounters
Legislador admitted that real armed encounters between the NPA and the AFP have indeed intensified in Negros Island but these are mainly due to yet another “pipe dream” of defeating them swiftly under the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. government.
In fact, Legislador said, another company of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion 7 of the Philippine National Police has recently been deployed to Negros Oriental on the pretext of providing additional security for the upcoming Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections this December.
Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo and nine others were killed earlier this year in a brazen assault by hired killers suspected to be employed by political rivals in the province.
But Legislador said that the military and police operations are really meant to eliminate the NPA’s resistance to the entry of foreign businesses to the island.
“In truth, the AFP and the entire state forces of the US-Marcos II regime are only prodding the people to fight back, on the streets and up to the countryside. What is left for the people on the Visayas islands is to strengthen themselves and their Red Army in order to advance the revolution further,” Legislador said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
CPP: AFP unit involved in May 2020 massacre in Sorsogon
The New People’s Army (NPA) and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) denied the two soldiers killed in an ambush in Camalig, Albay last February 20 were part of the search and retrieval operations for the victims of the plane crash on Mayon Volcano.
In a statement, Santos Binamera Command (NPA-Albay) spokesperson Florante Orobia said the two soldiers of the 31st Infantry Battallion of the Philippine Army (IBPA) were buying supplies at a market place around 7:20 AM when fired upon by its partisans.
Orobia said Private First Class (PFC) Mark June Esico and PFC John Dave Adcolin were also part of the security detail of an infrastructure project in the same town at the time of the incident.
The CPP said in a separate statement issued to journalists that the ambush was a legitimate military operation against government soldiers actively involved in counterinsurgency operations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
“Military supply lines comprise an important aspect of war operations…Disrupting the AFP’s supply lines are among the tactics for waging guerrilla warfare,” CPP spokesperson Marco Valbuena said.
Earlier, Philippine Army 9th Infantry Division commander Maj. Gen. Adonis Bajao claimed the two soldiers were assigned to extend assistance to the search and retrieval operations of the four victims of a plane crash on Mayon Volcano.
Bajao added that the ambush was in retaliation to his division’s successes against the NPA in the Bicol region.
The CPP however said the soldiers were armed, ready to engage in battle when ambushed, and a .45 caliber pistol was in fact taken from them.
“The claim of the 9th ID that the troops were preparing for search and rescue operations over a missing Cessna plane is a sorry PR attempt to gloss over the brutal counterinsurgency record of the 31st IB, in the hope of gaining public sympathy,” Valbuena said.
The CPP spokesperson said the two soldiers’ unit is responsible for scores of human rights violations, including the May 8, 2020 massacre of five farmer in Bulan, Sorsogon.
He added the 31st IBPA was also involved in other cases of killings, torture, illegal arrests and detention, threats and harassments of farming communities in Sorsogon and Camarines Sur provinces.
“The partisan operations of the NPA in Albay point to the fact that armed guerrilla operations in Bicol continue to expand. It shows the ability of the NPA to deploy teams anywhere in order to strike at enemy military targets,” Valbuena said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/1.jpg422750Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2023-02-27 10:39:052023-02-27 10:39:06Reds say ambushed troopers ‘armed, ready to fight’
A bishop, Iglesia Filipina Independiente’s (IFI) first-ever woman prelate, is being red-tagged in Ilocos Norte, along with three priests.
Bishop Emelyn Gasco-Dacuycuy and IFI priests Noel Dacuycuy, Randy Manicap and Arvin Mangrobang were accused by a shadowy group calling itself the Tagapagtanggol ng Bayan Laban sa Terorismo as New People’s Army (NPA) recruiters.
Posters and streamers bearing the victim’s pictures and alleging the priests and the bishop were NPA recruiters were found at the IFI Parish in Batac town Thursday morning, June 2.
The bishop also disclosed that more such flyers were distributed this morning at the IFI Cathedral in Laoag City and the Parish of Banna where she pastorally resides.
The posters ordered the priests to surrender at a police station to clear their names.
In a press conference Friday, Rev. Mangrobang said he does not need to have his name cleared again after already talking to the Vintar chief of police earlier.
Mangrobang revealed that a hand-painted streamer made from a rice sack had already been hung in Vintar last May 8 accusing him of being a NPA supporter.
“The new posters bearing our photos are worse. I have not even seen a NPA member,” Mangrobang said.
The priest said he only recruits sacristans to assist in the altar during Masses and to help in doing God’s work.
“They must know that I am a full-time priest and that I stay in the convent,” he added.
Rev. Dacuycuy for his part blamed President Rodrigo Duterte’ anti-terror law for the red-tagging activities against them.
“They insist that those who speak out in behalf of the people are automatically leftists or terrorists,” Dacuycuy explained.
In a statement Friday, Bishop Dacuycuy said she strongly condemns the “malicious accusations” and denied she ever recruited or is involved with the NPA.
The prelate said she met with Ilocos Norte police director Julius Sibaen Thursday who, she said, assured them of their security.
“Today, we will go to Batac PNP to file a blotter about the hanging of the tarpaulin at the gate of [the] Batac convent and scattered flyers bearing our faces with false accusation that happened yesterday morning,” Bishop Dacuycuy said.
Dacuycuy said her diocese is ready to hold a dialogue with government agencies and the military in the area.
Dacuycuy made history when she was consecrated IFI’s first woman bishop in May 5, 2017 whose diocesan see was the birthplace of IFI co-founder and first supreme bishop Gregorio Aglipay.
Ilocos Norte is also the home province of president-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. whose family also dominated the local elections in the province earlier this month. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
(This report earlier mistakenly said the Rt. Rev. Dacuycuy was the country’s first-ever woman bishop. Two United Church of Christ in the Philippines woman bishops in fact preceded her.)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/bishop2.jpg6901108Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2022-06-03 13:33:272022-06-03 16:35:36Red-tagging of 1st IFI woman bishop, 3 priests go unabated in Ilocos Norte
CPP congratulates Red Fighters on 53rd anniversary
The Rodrigo Duterte government has failed to crush the New People’s Army (NPA) despite vowing to do so before its term ends, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said.
In its message on the NPA’s 53rd anniversary today, the CPP said the revolutionary army has successfully frustrated Duterte and his military generals in their repeated declaration of crushing the people’s armed resistance.
While admitting losses due to the government’s new arsenal of weapons and strategies, the CPP said the NPA has preserved itself and has achieved victories in most guerilla fronts.
“The Red fighters and commanders of the NPA, and the Party cadres leading the NPA, have displayed great tenacity and determination to bear heavy sacrifices, surmount all adversity and limitations, and exert all efforts to defend the people against fascism and state terrorism,” the CPP said.
The underground party also said NPA fighters are willing to shun all desires for comfort and convenience as they shoulder the difficult tasks in waging the people’s war.
“They draw joy, strength and inspiration from the peasant masses who the NPA serves selflessly, and who, in turn, provides for the needs of the NPA,” it added.
The NPA is operating and has preserved its strength in all of the country’s 13 regions, the CPP said.
Bicol NPA twits Duterte
The NPA in Bicol said the Duterte government has failed to crush their armed revolution in the region.
Red fighters of the NPA’s Romulo Jallores Command prepare for a cultural presentation as part of their celebration of the 50th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines. (Raymund B. Villanueva/Kodao)
“The advancement of the people’s war in Bikol, despite its being one of the focus of US(United States)-Duterte regime’s anti-people war, is one of the most undeniable proofs of Duterte’s failure to curb the people’s democratic revolution. The insistent mass surrender campaigns, militarization and civilian killings only pushed the Bikolanos towards revolutionary struggle,” Raymundo Buenfuerza, spokesperson of the NPA’s Romulo Jallores Command said in a statement.
“Where are Duterte’s boasts and strong promises that he can pulverize the revolutionary movement during his term? With barely over two months remaining and despite ceaseless empty declarations of surrenderees after surrenderees, encounters and whatnots, the truth that they failed came straight from none other than the tyrant himself,” Buenfuerza added.
The Bicol NPA further said is reduced to pleading and coercing NPA members into pacification as the President’s “last bid to show some success for his bragging and unrealistic declarations six years ago.”
Buenfuerza said the NPA’s continuing advance in Bicol is one of the most undeniable proofs of Duterte’s failure to curb the “people’s democratic revolution.”
More gov’t troops
The CPP revealed the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has created new combat units to try to crush the NPA, to no avail.
The group claimed that almost 60% of the AFP’s combat troops are concentrated in five of the 13 regions, namely, Southern Tagalog, Eastern Visayas, Southern Mindanao, Bicol and North Central Mindanao.
“There is a marked increase in the deployment of troops in Far South Mindanao, Negros, Southern Mindanao, Eastern Visayas, Cagayan Valley and Southern Tagalog. The AFP aims to conduct large-scale and focused military operations, coordinate its various branches and make full use of the whole range of its arsenal against the guerrilla forces of the NPA,” the CPP said.
Despite repeatedly declaring that the NPA has been weakened and is set to be crushed before the end of Duterte’s term on June 30, the AFP and PNP continues to increase its counter-guerrilla combat forces, the CPP said.
It added that there are presently 166 combat battalions of Army, Air Force, Marines, Scout Rangers, Special Action Forces and other military and police units deployed against the NPA, 21 more than the previous year.
The NPA’s First Pulang Bagani Battalion in formation in Davao City in 2017. (R. Villanueva/Kodao)
“With this number, the AFP can deploy 5 to 6 battalions against their priority or focused guerrilla sub-regional or front areas of the NPA, and deploy two to three in non-priority areas. The AFP and PNP have established joint commands and operations,” the CPP said.
“The push to achieve overwhelming military superiority, however, has the opposite effect of deepening its political inferiority,” it said.
Increased budget for the military
The CPP said the Duterte government has increasingly overspent on the military and police yet failing in its objective in crushing one of the world’s oldest Communist guerilla war.
It said Duterte’s budget for the military further increased to ₱221 billion this year from ₱217 billion last year, in addition to creating and unleashing another brutal anti-insurgency program led by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
The NTF-ELCAC had an increased of ₱17.5 billion in 2021 from ₱4.2 billion in the previous year, ₱10 billion of which was categorized as unallocated.
The AFP has also received a total of $1.14 billion worth of military assistance in the form of Foreign Military Financing, military training programs and others mainly from the United States of America and other foreign countries in the past six years.
The CPP said the Duterte government purchased attack and combat utility helicopters, jet fighters and attack aircraft, cannons and artillery systems, 500-lb and 250-lb bombs, rockets and missiles, drone systems, tanks, armored personnel carrier, electronic surveillance and communication equipment, rifles, bullets and many other new equipment to fight the NPA.
It has deployed GPS tracking systems, button-sized cameras to track guerrilla movement in forested areas, equipment for mobile phone surveillance in a bid to utilize new technology in fighting the guerilla NPA.
The government has also enacted a new anti-terrorism law and let the NTF-ELCAC control civilian government agencies in a “civil-military junta.”
It has also designated the CPP, the NPA as well as the National Democratic Front of the Philippines as so-called terrorist organizations.
Rampant human rights abuses
The CPP said that all the AFP and the PNP succeeded to do however are rampant human rights abuses, both in the cities and rural areas.
“In the cities, military and police agents subject unionists, community organizers, youth and women activists, as well as human rights advocates, progressive religious leaders, teachers and health workers to surveillance, harassments, arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings,” it said.
“The situation is even worse in the countryside, although there is gross under-reporting of incidents of military abuses and violations of human rights,” it added.
The CPP said the government enemy has erased all distinction between combatants and civilians in its “arbitrary accusation” of civilians as being communists or communist-supporters using the new anti-terror law to justify gross violations of people’s rights and freedoms.
“It lays siege on communities mobilizing large numbers of troops in night-time or early-morning raids on peasant homes such as in the Oplan Sauron in Negros, the massacre of Tumandok minorities in Capiz and the Bloody Sunday mass killing of activists in Southern Tagalog,” it said.
‘Serious setbacks’
The CPP admitted that the NPA suffered “serious setbacks,” including the loss of NPA national commander Menandro Villanueva and NPA national spokesperson Jorge Madlos in the past year.
It also admitted that some NPA units committed errors, showed internal weaknesses and committed shortcomings that “incapacitated [them] from effectively using guerrilla tactics of concentration, dispersal and shifting.”
“A few of these units have been saddled with various problems including over-concentration and self-constriction, weakness in striking the correct balance in military and political work, leading to their inability to strengthen and expand the mass base and area of operation,” the CPP said.
“Some units have been afflicted with conservatism and passivity or a mountain-stronghold mentality. In some guerrilla fronts, the enemy was able to concentrate its forces on a limited area and apply brutal tactics of suppression against the masses to build blockhouses, compel NPA units to retreat to rough terrain where supply and flow of information is difficult, and force them into a purely military situation,” it revealed.
The CPP urged all NPA units to “self-critically assess their situation, identify and overcome their weaknesses and shortcomings and surmount their limitations, in order to steadily advance from one level to another.”
The NPA in Negros Island. (File photo/Nonoy Espina+)
7 tasks
While showing great resilience and frustrating six years of Duterte’s offensives, the CPP said the NPA must quickly adapt to the tactics and strategy of its and carry forward the “people’s war.”
“We must creatively enhance our tactics in guerrilla warfare in order to wage extensive and intensive guerrilla warfare on an ever widening and deepening mass base. As always, the key is to arouse the broad masses of the Filipino people in order for them to rise up in great numbers against the fascist tyranny,” it said.
It added that the NPA has the following tasks in the coming years:
Strengthen the Party’s leadership of the NPA.
Vigorously wage armed struggle and resist the enemy’s brutal war of suppression.
Strengthen the New People’s Army.
Broaden and deepen the NPA mass base in the guerrilla fronts.
Generate widespread support from the cities for the revolutionary armed struggle in the countryside.
We must systematically proselytize among the enemy’s ranks.
Aggressively generate international support for the New People’s Army and the Philippine revolution.
(Report by Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/npa-honors.jpg360640Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2022-03-29 14:11:212022-03-29 14:12:12‘Tenacious and determined’ NPA frustrates Duterte’s all-out war
Revolutionary organizations ramped up their anti-pandemic campaign with an animation video on how people with little or no access to mass-produced medicines or health facilities may fight Coronavirus-19 (COVID) symptoms.
Produced by underground group Silyab.Bikol, the video has been posted on web portal Yandex Disk as well as Facebook, You Tube, Instagram and Twitter.
The professionally-produced 5:34 minute film presents alternative and traditional ways of treating symptoms associated with the rampaging virus.
Watch the video on Ma Roja Banua’s You Tube channel.
It says lagundi (scientific name: Vitex negundo), tawa-tawa (SN: Euphorbia hirta), virgin coconut oil (VCO), and acupuncture are some of what the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) recommend to its members and the masses in areas where health care and medicines are difficult to access.
“These have long been used by the masses and the NPA to strengthen immunity and as cure for common ailments such as coughs, colds, flu and others,” the video says.
The film says the concoctions and the procedure have already been thoroughly researched by members of the scientific community and may be used to address symptoms of COVID-19.
It says lagundi strengthens the lungs’ defense against various kinds of virus while tawa-tawa promotes healthy respiration. The latter is also good in fighting against bacteria, fungus and amoeba as well as a proven cure for diarrhea, it adds.
VCO meanwhile may be a food supplement for COVID-19 patients, the film claims. Its benefits include lowering of bad cholesterol and strengthening of the heart as well as weight loss for overweight and obese persons vulnerable to Covid 19, the video says.
The ancient Chinese healing system of acupuncture may restore normal balance of the body and fight ailments such as Covid-19, the video also recommends. It shows acupuncture points such as “Lung 1”, “Lung 7” and “Stomach 36” for strengthening ones respiratory system against the virus.
The video presents ways to prepare the concoctions as well as cautions and exemptions for those who are pregnant, obese, hypertensive and diabetic, as well as children.
It also recommends that acupuncture be administered by trained personnel in clean surroundings.
Supportive treatment
Asked about the video’s claims, community medicine expert and University of the Philippines College of Medicine faculty member Gene Nisperos said the concoctions and the procedures are acceptable as “supportive treatment.”
“Claims that lagundi and acupuncture may be used as supportive and symptomatic treatment are ok,” Nisperos said.
He also mentioned tea made out of bangka-bangkaan (SN: Rhoeo spathacea) as a possible alternative.
A website on Philippine medicinal plants reports it may be a cure for a variety of illnesses due to its reported anti-inflammatory, anticancer, insecticidal, antimicrobial, antifertility and many other properties.
The medical doctor added that anything that strengthens a person’s immune system is welcome, including vitamins, sunlight, exercise and acupuncture.
“What we treat are COVID’s symptoms, such as fever with paracetamol and cough with anti-cough medicines. Lagundi is known to have good effect on the lungs and for treating asthma. It helps a lot if used as supportive treatment. Initial research using lagundi on mild COVID shows faster recovery,” he said.
Nisperos said that herbal medicines may be used when there is no paracetamol to be had, but cautioned against “sweeping conclusions” that they are cures or prophylaxis (preventive medicines) to COVID. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Screenshot-2022-01-19-at-09-54-24-Add-New-Post-‹-Kodao-Productions-—-WordPress.png5061053Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2022-01-19 09:57:572022-01-19 15:38:49WATCH: Reds produce film on alternative, traditional treatment vs COVID symptoms
Joma Sison says Villanueva was captured, tortured and executed
[UPDATED] The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) confirmed the death of New People’s Army’s (NPA) national commander Menandro Villanueva but said he and one other were captured alive last Christmas eve and later summarily executed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
CPP founding chairperson Jose Maria Sison in his tribute said Villanueva and one Sandra Reyes were captured alive last December 24-25 but were later declared killed in separate incidents.
“But Ka [Comrade] Sandra (Reyes) would be reported to the press by the reactionary military as killed in action on December 25,” Sison, quoting a report from the CPPs Mindanao Commission, said.
“On January 5, 2020, the reactionary military one-sidedly fired several rounds of Howitzer artillery at Libodon, Mabini and despite no encounter with the NPA subsequently claimed on January 6 that Ka Menandro had been killed in action in the non-encounter of January 5, 2022,” he said.
“Obviously, he was tortured for at least ten days before he was murdered,” Sison added.
Sison’s statement countered the announcement by the Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMinCom) of the AFP on Friday that Villanueva was killed in an encounter with government troops.
EastMinCom commander Lt. Gen. Greg Almerol in a statement said Villanueva was one of the founding members of the NPA in Mindanao during the 1970s.
Almerol said that Villanueva became a member of the Kabataang Makabayan as an Ateneo de Manila University student who went underground when Martial Law was declared.
“Villanueva was the longest-serving secretary of the NPA’s Southern Mindanao Regional Committee (SMRC) and currently the secretary of Komisyong Mindanao (KOMMID), commanding officer of the NPA’s National Operations Command (NOC) and member of the POLITBURO (political bureau) of the (CPP),” the military added.
AFP target
Known in the underground revolutionary movement as Ka (Comrade) Bok, Ka Jude and Ka Gipo, Villanueva was around 70 years old at the time of his death, the CPP said.
The CPP said Villanueva had been a long-standing AFP target because he successfully led the Party and its armed revolution in Southern Mindanao from one level to another.
“It is a testament to the strength, resilience, and guerrilla discipline of the NPA, and extensive and deep support of the broad masses for the people’s army that it took the enemy more than a decade—spending billions of pesos in relentless military operations, aerial bombings, artillery shelling, occupation of communities, and terrorizing the peasants and Lumad masses—before it could finally vanquish Ka Bok,” the CPP said.
“His death is mourned by the Party, the NPA and all revolutionary forces, and by the broad masses of workers and peasants, especially the downtrodden people in the hinterlands of the Davao provinces, whom he dearly served over the past several decades,” the CPP added.
The group acknowledged that Villanueva’s death is “a big loss.”
“But this setback is only temporary and will be surmounted in due time. A number of Party cadres and NPA commanders, veterans in people’s war, as well as young leaders trained by Ka Bok and steeled in military and political work, are primed to take his place and perform his duties,” the CPP said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/npa2.jpg480720Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2022-01-13 17:36:012022-01-13 20:03:10CPP confirms death of NPA national commander
A former radio broadcaster recalls her visit to a New People’s Army camp and interview with Jorge Madlos who cultivated warm relations with many journalists for several decades.
By Katniss
It was in June 2004. I was invited to climb the mountains and trek the forests of Surigao to see Ka Oris. I was told farmers in Surigao communities as well as the “nice people” there are avid listeners of the radio program I anchored. The radio station on which my radio program aired, though based in Cebu City, could reach as far as Mindanao, particularly in the provinces of Surigao. Ka Oris wanted me to share ideas about how our radio programs were produced and he also wanted me to share my experiences and help them in setting up programs in certain regions in Mindanao.
From the highway, it was two to three hours ride on a habal-habal (a motorcycle kitted with wood planks that take in more passengers and cargo). Then it was more than an hour of walk into the forests and patches of farms before I finally reached a huge guerilla camp. There was a huge stage made of hard wood where cultural activities were being held; a kitchen area; and several makeshift huts and barracks where visitors like me are accommodated serving as our sleeping area. It was still daylight when I reached the place. Everyone was wearing boots because, even if it wasn’t raining, one cannot avoid walking on muddy grounds. I was also told that, since it’s a forest, there were also leeches. At that time and at that age I was not so worried about the leeches then but more so about the difficulty of walking and moving around in those heavy rubber boots. I saw several young guerrilla fighters and was told that they were on military training. There were two other foreign visitors in the camp. They told me they were from BBC, documenting the training and interviewing about the guerilla war in the Philippines.
After dinner, I overheard one Red Fighter who whispered to one woman in charge of the camp that there is a report of suspicious movements in the peripheries of the camp. The woman instructed the fighter to send a squad to check.
On my first night, I was not able to sleep while lying in a hammock in the barracks. I was so bothered with what I’ve heard. What if are attacked? What will I do? I could not run in those boots. What if I am hit or arrested? Sleep would not come despite the exhaustion. My mind was preoccupied with “what ifs” I felt paranoid. At 9 pm, I started having chills. It was either due to the coldness of the night inside the forest or because of the anxiety that I felt. I decided to rise and go to the hut of Ka Oris and his wife. I told him what I felt and how worried and scared I was. Calmly, he explained something which to this day I can still vividly recall.
He told me: “In this camp, which is in a deep forest, there are more than 100 red fighters. In our surrounding peripheries there are squads on guard while doing their mass work. Beyond the peripheries are mass bases. All this means that those supposedly unknown movements detected may just be some farmers who are on their way to their farms. If they are really soldiers or enemies, they must be a handful who may have just wandered around. The squads can take care of them. Otherwise, if the enemy has targeted our camp, they could not just send a few troops, knowing our strength. Usually, feeling insecure in battles, their ratio is one NPA red fighter to 10 of their soldiers. With the number of troops that we have here in this camp, they need to send a battalion of soldiers. If they do so, such huge troop movement can already be detected several tens of kilometers away from us.”
So I asked him, “What if they send troops by helicopter?”
He answered, “Well, in one helicopter there are only less than 10 who can be carried. They could also not land in this forest itself but perhaps in the peripheries where there are patches of farmlands. And we have the capacity to shoot at helicopters.” Ka Oris went on to tell me about an incident in the 80’s incident when the very camp we were at suffered aerial bombing by government forces. He said they were able to fight back then and the enemy failed to penetrate the forest.
Oris calm explanations relaxed me and I was able to finally sleep in my hammock.
I again visited him in his hut the following morning. I started my interview with him regarding the series of press conferences he conducted with journalists from all over, as well as politicians in the guerilla areas. I had long been curious about how were they able to do that despite the risks of being attacked. He again explained their application of strategies and tactics taught by Sun Tzu’s ‘Art of War.’ That interview made up for an entire episode of my radio show.
I was star-struck by him, I admit. He was gentle, calm and witty. He also looked like Ho Chi Min. Ka Oris invited me to quiz me on radio production, but it was I who learned so much from them. Their life was difficult, something I could not imagine myself doing nor enduring. City slickers like me who are easily afflicted with fear may find living their life impossible. But Oris and his guerilla army looked like it was a life worth living. How profound, noble, and self-fulfilling it seemed.
I wanted another visit and another opportunity to interview Ka Oris. But I got pregnant in the last quarter of 2005 and got married soon after.
As a radio personality, I have had my share of death threats in 2005. I was accused as “a communist masquerading as a journalist.” I was advised to stop being a radio anchor for my safety.
I still keep on monitoring media interviews of Ka Oris by local, national and even international media. I am still be amazed by his brilliance and commitment to their revolution as well as his persistence in pursuing the humaneness of his communist ideals. But there remains in me a tinge of guilt for failing in a simple request he asked of me. When I was leaving their camp in 2004, he gave me a specialty notebook and a nice pen to hand over to his daughter. I tried but I never get the chance of meeting his daughter.
I left Cebu in 2015 and I remember that I brought that notebook and pen with me to where I relocated. After hearing of Ka Oris’ death at the hands of his enemies, I must commit to finding where I placed the notebook and pen. Who knows, one day, I will be able to meet his daughter in the future.
To Ka Oris, my highest salute. To his daughter, I still owe you the notebook and pen from your father. Like the many journalists who admire him, he will always be to me the kind, gentle, heroic icon of the Filipino people’s struggle for social justice and liberation. #
(“Katniss” is a pseudonym.)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Ka-Oris-1.jpg6881082Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2021-11-02 12:03:412021-11-03 16:53:25A visit to Ka Oris' guerilla camp
“Ka Oris had long wished to return to Siargao Island where he grew up as a boy. Perhaps, his wish could be fulfilled.”–CPP chief information officer Marco Valbuena
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said it supports the wishes of Ka Oris’ family to retrieve his remains and conduct a proper wake for the fallen New People’s Army (NPA) spokesperson.
In a statement, CPP chief information officer Marco Valbuena said that the military is engaged in a cover-up of the real circumstances surrounding Oris and his aide’s deaths and their families are in a position to demand for an autopsy by an independent pathologist.
Oris (born Jorge Madlos) and his aide the CPP identified as Ka Pika (Eighfel Dela Peña) were killed on Friday in Sitio Gabunan, Barangay Dumalaguing, Impasug-ong town in Bukidnon.
The CPP’s statement came after reports quoted 403rd Infantry Brigade commander Brig. Gen. Ferdinand Barandon saying Oris and Pika will be buried at the “encounter site” if found to be COVID-19 positive.
A Rappler report said the military showed to reporters a photograph of a dead person who resembled Oris being swabbed for COVID-19 at the “encounter site.”
Barandon reportedly said Oris’ remains was swabbed so that samples could be tested for COVID-19, citing other NPA rebels killed in clashes with the military or have been arrested since October showed COVID-19 symptoms.
If the swab tests turn up negative, Barandon said the bodies would be brought down to Impasug-ong town proper and turned over to the Philippine National Police.
Valbuena said Oris had long wished to return to Siargao Island where he grew up.
“Perhaps, his wish could be fulfilled,” the CPP spokesperson said.
Murder
In his statement, Valbuena echoed National Democratic Front of the Philippines-North East Mindanao Region spokesperson and Oris’ widow Maria Malaya’s accusation that the NPA spokesperson and his aide were murdered and not killed in an encounter.
“Ka Oris and aide Eighfel Dela Peña (Ka Pika) were both unarmed when ambushed. Whether they were ambushed while moving or were accosted and thereafter executed is still unclear,” Valbuena said.
In a news conference at Camp Osito Bahian in Malaybalay City, Major General Romeo Brawner Jr., commander of the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Division, claimed Oris and Pika were killed in an encounter with 8th Infantry Battalion, the 1st Special Forces Battalion, and Scout Ranger soldiers.
Malaya however said Oris and Pika were riding a motorcycle on their way to seek medical treatment.
The elderly Oris was publicly known to have suffered from renal failure for years.
“Clearly, however, they were not in a position to give battle or fight back and were murdered in cold-blood,” Valbuena said.
Cover-up
Valbuena added the aerial strikes in the vicinity of Barangay Dumalaguing the military first claimed killed Oris were done four hours after the NPA spokesperson and his aide were killed.
“For around two hours, from 12:40 a.m. to past 2 a.m. the AFP dropped at least six large bombs, fired dozens of rockets and strafed the mountainside shattering the peace and causing fear and panic among the people,” he said.
The bombing was to conceal the military’s “crime of murdering unarmed revolutionaries and create a false picture of an armed encounter,” he said.
“They then issued a fat lie claiming of an armed encounter at 11 am (10 hours later) where Ka Oris and Ka Pica were supposedly killed,” Valbuena said.
The CPP said that Brawner and other 4th ID officers’ statements to reporters were brazen lies.
“They are utterly dishonorable officers for propagating false information. We hold Gen. Brawner and the men and officers of the 403 IBde responsible for the murder of Ka Oris and Ka Pica and its coverup,” he said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/oris.jpg5831024Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2021-11-01 11:06:522021-11-01 11:17:33CPP to AFP: Give Oris’ remains back to his family
Ka Oris is dead, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in North-East Mindanao Region (NDFP-NEMR) confirmed.
In a statement, NDFP-NEMR spokesperson Maria Malaya said government forces ambushed and killed Oris, born Jorge Madlos, while on board a motorcycle in the town of Impasug-ong Bukidnon last October 29, Friday.
Malaya clarified that 4th Infantry Division commander Brig. Gen. Romeo Brawner’s claim that Oris was killed in an encounter with government soldiers was a lie.
“Ka Oris and his female medic were onboard a motorcycle from the poblacion of the town of Impasug-ong, Bukidnon going towards the national highway where, it is believed, they were ambushed and killed. They never reached the highway,” Malaya said.
The NDFP-NEMR spokesperson said that, according to their sources, there was no gunfight and the military did not conduct an airstrike in the area.
Oris was unarmed and was on his way to a medical treatment, Malaya said.
The prominent revolutionary was publicly known to be suffering from a renal ailment.
Malaya added that the military is still in possession of Oris’ remains.
“We challenge Brig. Gen. Brawner to reveal to the media and the public what really happened, to not be a big liar, for only then can he truly take pride in his achievement of killing Ka Oris,” she said.
Oris was a legendary New People’s Army commander for several decades and was the revolutionary army’s national operational command spokesperson at the time of his death.
NDFP-NEMR said it hopes the Rodrigo Duterte government will allow a public wake for Oris, similar to what Duterte, then Davao City mayor, allowed for Leoncio Pitao in 2015. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/oris.jpg10001500Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2021-10-31 18:20:172021-10-31 18:20:55NDFP in Northeast Mindanao confirms Oris’ death
Urban poor group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) said its assassinated secretary general Carlito Badion had been given justice with the reported death of one of his alleged assassins.
This was the group’s reaction to a report that one of Badion’s alleged killers, Jojo “Pekulo” Lucero, had recently been punished with death by the New People’s Army (NPA) last June 25 in Ormoc City.
“What we have seen through the punishment done by the NPA is that Filipinos are seeking alternative methods for justice as the government continues to fail them. Kadamay supports all oppressed sectors in their search for justice and accountability,” the group said.
Badion, long-serving Kadamay secretary general, was tortured and murdered in his home city of Ormoc in Leyte in May 28, 2020.
Badion defended urban poor communities from violent demolitions and was known critic of substandard and dangerous government relocation sites.
He had been a repeated victim of red-tagging by government security forces until his death.
In an announcement through the underground Eastern Visayas newspaper Larab last October 2, the NPA said it conducted investigations and found Lucero guilty of being one of Badion’s assassins.
The decision was reached by a “people’s court” and was carried out by the NPA, the Larab report said.
The NPA said Lucero also took Badion’s laptop computer, mobile phone and money after the urban poor leader was killed.
“Sa isinagawang imbestigasyon sa kaso, napatunayang nasa ilalim ng proteksyon ng pulis si Lucero. Ayon sa nakalap na impormasyon, ‘sumuko’ siya sa lokal na yunit ng Philippine National Police (PNP) matapos paslangin si Badion,” the NPA said.
(The investigation conducted proved Lucero was under police protection. According to pieces of information we gathered, he ‘surrendered’ to the local PNP unit after Badion was killed.)
But the police did not press charges against Lucero and instead sent him home with money and grocery items, the group added.
Lucero was also a known police asset who, despite being involved in theft charges has not been jailed, the NPA said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/karletz.jpg9601435Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2021-10-13 11:55:372021-10-13 11:55:38‘Justice,’ Kadamay says of death of Badion’s alleged assassin
