Philippine Maoists Arrest Warlord, Confiscates Weaponry

[The Vegan Marxist]

NPA arrests Arroyo warlord in Surigao, 4 AFP/PNP armed escorts; Confiscates Nine M-16 rifles, pistols
May 5, 2010

Arroyo warlord and Lingig, Surigao del Sur town mayor Roberto "Jimmy" Luna Jr. and his AFP/PNP bodyguards were arrested earlier today, May 5, at 6:15 AM at a mobile checkpoint mounted by Red fighters along the Davao-Agusan National Highway in Pasian, Monkayo, Compostela Valley Province. Red fighters under the Conrado Heredia Command-Front 20 Operations Command of the New People's Army also confiscated their firearms consisting of five M-16 armalite rifles, two .45 cal. pistols, one 9 mm pistol and one .380 cal. pistol.

Luna, a last term mayor under Gloria Arroyo's Lakas-Kampi Party, is being held for investigations for numerous criminal, land grabbing and graft cases lodged before the local People's Court. Luna is being investigated for the 2007 murders of Suazo siblings who are Barangay Union residents in Lingig town; and Luna's involvement in the cold-blooded murder of Mayor Amerosin V. Onsing in 2001. Luna has also been accused of land grabbing 30-hectare peasant lands in Barangay Pagbacatan, and in Dahican Island.

Luna who is now seeking the Lingig town vice mayoralty post has been facing graft charges for the 26-million peso Land Bank loan for water ways in 2009. He has pending cases in reactionary courts for illegal logging, falsification of official documents, grave misconduct, and graft and corruption.

Luna and his AFP/PNP armed escorts -- 58th IB-AFP PFC John Rey Abao (SN 831893), PFC Arnel Dizon (SN 859544), PNP Lingig PO2 Boy de Castro and PO3 Alan Dapitanon -- are now under NPA custody while investigations are ongoing.

The NPA shall issue further statements and notices related to this latest incident.

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/cgi-bin/statements/stmts.pl?author=smpd;date=100505;lang=eng

[The Vegan Marxist]

Here is also a document on the various corrupted doings taking place & the oppositional voices against such corruption: http://www.philippinerevolution.net/pub/archives/lib/0805-08.pdf

[The Vegan Marxist]

NPA rebels attack troops guarding poll machines in South
Friday, May 07, 2010

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 7, 2010) – Communist insurgents on Friday opened fire on government troops guarding polling machines in the southern Philippines, wounding two infantrymen, officials said.

Officials said New People’s Army insurgents attacked the soldiers in the village of Taguibo in Davao Oriental’s Mati town where security forces were guarding the precinct count optical scan machines which will be used in the country’s first automated elections on Monday.

“The two wounded soldiers were rushed to hospital,” said Captain Emmanuel Garcia, a spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.

Garcia said troops were pursuing the attackers. “This is another terror act of the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front. They are sowing terror to prevent people from freely exercising their right to vote. This is hooliganism at its worst.
While soldiers are sacrificing to safeguard the election process, these terrorists breed anarchy to the detriment of the Filipino people,” he said.

On Thursday, insurgents also bombed a truck of troops escorting a convoy delivering precinct count optical scanner machines in Palanas town in Masbate province in the Bicol region, although no was injured or killed in the roadside attack.

The NPA is the military wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines while the National Democratic Front is the organization’s political arm. The Communist Party of the Philippines is fighting for decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)

http://www.mindanaoexaminer.com/news.php?news_id=20100507011255

[The Vegan Marxist]

The facts against psywar intrigues

Prof. Jose Ma. Sison
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
Chief Political Consultant
May 7, 2010

As chief political consultant of the Negotiating Panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), I am well informed about the revolutionary position of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People's Army and the NDFP as well as the position of other major political forces in relation to the 2010 elections of the reactionary government.

It is the consistent revolutionary position of the CPP, NPA and NDFP, as well expressed in the recent CPP and NPA anniversary statements, that the 2010 elections are on the whole and in essence a rotten process of a rotten ruling system dominated by the political agents of US imperialism and the local exploiting classes.

The NDFP Negotiating Panel has recently received word from the revolutionary forces of the CPP, NPA and NDFP that they are exceedingly happy that the necessity and objective conditions for waging revolution are further enhanced by the fact that the 2010 elections are manifesting the worst characteristics of the semicolonial and semifeudal system and are generating further political disorder and social turmoil.

They are amused that the poll surveys and the media reports have made an unstable, slothful and massacre-prone underachiever like Noynoy Aquino and a convicted plunderer and ruffian-type like Erap Estrada as the front runners in the presidential derby and that the Arroyo regime is still desperately maneuvering either to stay in power through failure of elections or choose the next president through manipulation of the vote count.

By manipulating the vote count through automation and/or manual count, the Arroyo regime can install as the next president either its own bet Gibo Teodoro or Noynoy Aquino who is the favorite choice of the the US country team (including the US ambassador, political officer and the mission chiefs of the AID, CIA , DIA and JUSMAG) and the Makati Business Club. One more bad president will further damn the ruling system and further incite the people to wage armed revolution.

Regarding such patriotic and progressive forces as Makabayan and some party list groups, everyone knows that the CPP, NPA and NDFP regard them as independent legal forces striving heroically to carry forward the national and democratic rights and interests of the Filipino people through the electoral form of struggle. The revolutionary forces and the broad masses of the people appreciate them as exceptional and different from the traditional politicians of the ruling system.

As a matter of public knowledge, I am aware that the bilateral alliance between Makabayan and the Nacionalista Party continues on the basis of the platform of land reform and rural development, industrial development and job generation, respect for human rights, indemnification of victims of human rights violations under the Marcos regime, protection of the environment, negotiations for a just peace, review of the Visiting Forces Agreement and other unequal agreements and independent foreign policy.

Brigadier General Francisco Cruz, chief of the AFP civil relations service, and retired police general Rodolfo Boogie Mendoza are spreading psywar intrigues and telling lies whenever they and their political masters invent stories to put the revolutionary forces at odds with the legal progressive forces and to counterpoise the central leadership of the revolutionary forces against a mere political refugee and long-disemployed teacher like me. In the days to come, the counterrevolutionary propagandists are expected to spew out more intrigues and lies calculated to favor certain parties and candidates and attack others.

I assure the two psywar intriguers and their political masters that I have the highest respect for the central leadership of the CPP, the national command of the NPA and the national council of the NDFP, which are all based in the Philippines. It is known to the public that I enjoy the trust and confidence of the revolutionary forces. They continue to let me serve the Filipino people as the chief political consultant of the NDFP in peace negotiations with the reactionary Manila government.

The broad masses of the Filipino people condemn the attempts of the most reactionary politicians and their military minions to discredit the Makabayan and progressive party list groups by Red-baiting them and witch hunting them as communists and self-contradictorily maligning them as being unprincipled for engaging in alliance tactics. These united front tactics allow them to retain their integrity, independence and initiative as patriotic and progressive forces and to facilitate and amplify their access to the people in their millions.

The anti-communist propaganda is calculated to pave the way for cheating the progressive forces and their allies and cutting down their votes. The impending electoral fraud at their expense will only further discredit the ruling system and will further justify the people's determination to intensify the revolutionary armed struggle. Definitely, the 2010 elections cannot be a way for any significant beneficial change. They are a device of the ruling system for deceiving the people and suppressing their will and voice.

The CPP, NPA and NDFP have always openly expressed their contempt for the entire ruling system of big compradors and landlords and their resolve to carry forward the people's war for national liberation and democracy. They are confident that the ever worsening crisis will continue to afflict the ruling system. The crisis will put the next president in serious trouble and compel him either to negotiate peace with the revolutionary forces or escalate the armed counterrevolution in a monstrous and self-defeating way.

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/cgi-bin/statements/stmts.pl?author=jms;date=100507;lang=eng

[Yazman]

Thanks for posting this, its not always easy to get news on the NPA living outside of the phils these days.

[The Vegan Marxist]

People Demand the Dismantling of Lingig Mayor's Private Army

Simon Santiago
Regional Political Department
Merardo Arce Command
NPA-Southern Mindanao
May 8, 2010
Arrested warlord Roberto 'Jimmy' Luna Jr (Lakas-Kampi) has strengthened his private army, and armed them with large caches of firearms issued by the Department of National Defense of the US-Arroyo Regime. Within nine years as mayor of Lingig, Surigao del Sur, Luna, a Gloria Arroyo ally, has maintained at least a platoon of private army which he used mainly to hit civilians and political opponents for his ambitious interests.

Ongoing investigations on the arrested Mayor has further affirmed the numerous complaints against him ranging from murder, land grabbing, graft cases to illegal logging and his involvement in the drug trade. Luna was arrested May 5 in the Davao-Agusan National Highway in Pasian, Monkayo, Compostela Valley Province during a mobile check point mounted by the Conrado Heredia Command-Front 20 Operations Command-NPA to arrest Luna.

Luna has used his armed goons to implement the murder of Suazo siblings in Barangay Union, Lingig in 2007, kill his political opponent Mayor Amerosin V. Onsing in 2001; and go after the Red fighters in an armed incident in 2001. Upon his orders, his private army also sowed terror among civilians in Barangay Pagbacatan and in Dahican Island where Luna's interests in agri-business and tourism lie. Luna has land grabbed at least 30 hectares of peasant lands in Barangay Pagbacatan.

In February 2006, following numerous complaints docketed with the Hukumang Bayan (People's Court) of the People's Democratic Government, the NPA made attempts to dismantle Mayor Luna's private army by raiding his house and disarming his Philippine National Police headquarters which garnered at least 22 firearms. But the Mayor has remained deaf to the people's clamor and continued to sow terror among the populace.

Warlord Luna has found a gracious ally in Gloria Arroyo who protected and coddled warlordism in the country and the proliferation of private armies via Arroyo's Executive Order 546 strengthening the regime's local officials to become warlords. The same Arroyo order that bred cold-blooded murderers like the Ampatuan clan in Maguindanao that use its private armies and DND-issued firearms to kill and maim civilians, build their vast empire, stifle the people's discontent and get away with anything -- even the most heinous crimes.

The regime merely pay lip service to dismantle private armies following the widely condemned November 23 Ampatuan Massacre. Warlords and private armies have actually continue to proliferate and enjoy the protection of the Arroyo regime.

The New People's Army for its part has remained firm in its commitment to disband private armies and all forms of warlordism inimical to the people's interests. The arrest and investigation of Mayor Luna is part of this commitment to hold accountable all those found guilty and face the legal and judicial processes as stipulated in the People's Court.

Meanwhile, Mayor Luna has remained safe and sound in the custody of the New People's Army and is being accorded humane treatment as has been the practice of the NPA towards all its captives.

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/cgi-bin/statements/stmts.pl?author=smpd;date=100508;lang=eng

[internasyonalista]

Not surprising what the Philippine maoists are doing these days because today (May 10) is the presidential-national elections in the Philippines where the maoists have candidates running for seats not only at local levels but also in national level, trying to enter the senate (upper house of the parliament) of a rotten capitalist state.
Also, the Philippine maoists allied themselves with the oldest bourgeois party in the Philippines - Nacionalista Party - and openly endorsing the candidacy for president of Manny Villar, a capitalist billionaire. :crying::crying::crying:

[Saorsa]

where the maoists have candidates running for seats not only at local levels but also in national level, trying to enter the senate (upper house of the parliament) of a rotten capitalist state.

Uh... no they don't.

[The Vegan Marxist]

Not surprising what the Philippine maoists are doing these days because today (May 10) is the presidential-national elections in the Philippines where the maoists have candidates running for seats not only at local levels but also in national level, trying to enter the senate (upper house of the parliament) of a rotten capitalist state.
Also, the Philippine maoists allied themselves with the oldest bourgeois party in the Philippines - Nacionalista Party - and openly endorsing the candidacy for president of Manny Villar, a capitalist billionaire. :crying::crying::crying:

I think you have things a bit confused. And when did the NPA endorse Manny Villar? Not much endorsing can be done within the jungle. Also, if you actually followed activities coming in from the NPA, they've been quite active for a long time now. I just felt that it was necessary for people to be updated on their activities, since we do so for the Nepalese Maoists & the Naxalites.

[Yazman]

Yeah, the NPA have been stepping it up a bit lately and expanding their operations north a little. They've made a little headway into the visayas, at least they had been before I came here.

[internasyonalista]

"I think you have things a bit confused. And when did the NPA endorse Manny Villar?"
If you are here in the Philippines closely monitoring the activities of the different leftist formations like the maoists, you can observe well the politics of leftism here: entering bourgeois parliament.
Of course the NPA did not "openly" endorse Manny Villar. But their legal fronts are. Satur Ocampo, one of their senatorial candidates under the Nacionalista Party (as "guest" candidate) was once a high ranking national cadre of the CPP-NDF.
The 41st anniversary statement of CPP last December even said that Villar is "more patriotic and progressive" among the presidential candidates. Joma Sison also implicitly endorses Villar for president.

[The Vegan Marxist]

"I think you have things a bit confused. And when did the NPA endorse Manny Villar?"
If you are here in the Philippines closely monitoring the activities of the different leftist formations like the maoists, you can observe well the politics of leftism here: entering bourgeois parliament.
Of course the NPA did not "openly" endorse Manny Villar. But their legal fronts are. Satur Ocampo, one of their senatorial candidates under the Nacionalista Party (as "guest" candidate) was once a high ranking national cadre of the CPP-NDF.
The 41st anniversary statement of CPP last December even said that Villar is "more patriotic and progressive" among the presidential candidates. Joma Sison also implicitly endorses Villar for president.

Isn't Villar the only one actually bringing homes to those homeless?

[The Vegan Marxist]

NPA to 10th ID-AFP's Capt. Garcia: What PCOS machines are you talking about?

Simon Santiago
Regional Political Department
Merardo Arce Command
NPA-Southern Mindanao
May 9, 2010
The May 7 military action of the NPA's Wilfredo Zapanta Command-Front 18 Operations Command (Wizac-NPA) is a punishment against the abusive 28th IB-AFP troops and a response to the complaints of the masses. The 28th IB-AFP casualties were not delivering Comelec PCOS machines as 10th ID-AFP spokesman Capt. Emmanuel Garcia claims. The NPA, as a matter of policy and as track record shows, fully respects the people's will in the guerilla base areas especially during this most chaotic election period.

At around 8 am that day, a team of Red fighters under the Wizac-NPA hit a unit of the 28th IB-AFP RSOT (Reengineered Special Operations Team) in Brgy. Taguibo, Mati, Davao Oriental. The ambushed enemy section was on reconnaissance patrol. They were the security elements of the 28th IB RSOT who have been conducting a month-long psychological warfare operations in Brgy. Taguibo and were not delivering Comelec PCOS machines. Private John Glenn J. Aniasco was killed while Privates First Class Abdulgani Paguildan and Julieto Domingo were wounded in the May 7 NPA ambush.

Capt. Garcia is a pathetic liar, more so, when it comes to making excuses for the 10th ID-AFP's battlefield losses. He now pegs his lies on the GRP election chaos to sell. Capt. Garcia's own yarn is a poor copy of the lies also peddled by AFP spokespersons in reaction to NPA tactical offensives in other regions. It only succeeded in unmasking him as someone who underestimates the people's sense to discern the truth from falsehood.

Capt. Garcia is covering up the gross violations of the 28th IB-AFP RSOT of the war protocols. For already a month, the Alpha Coy of the 28th IB RSOT have established an encampment within the populated civilian community in Taguibo. The fascists made the civilian population of Brgy. Taguibo virtually their shields against perceived NPA attacks. They have turned the barangay public school building into a military barracks -- and into brothels. The NPA has received reports of incidents of sexual harassment and molestation against women residents done by the soldiers of the 28th IB-AFP. Some of these cases were docketed before the local People's Court, and is presently undergoing investigations. These are some incidents that Capt. Garcia wants to keep under wraps from the public.

As a 10th ID spokesperson is paid to do the spin job, it is not surprising for Capt. Garcia to quickly conjure the lie that the NPA sought to thwart the delivery of the PCOS machines. He has to get creative and make a perfect excuse for the dismal failure of the 28th IB-AFP's RSOT operations in Taguibo, and their entire operations in Davao Oriental. Onto the homestretch of the doomed counter-revolutionary Oplan Bantay Laya, all they gained was widespread demoralization among their ranks, further alienation from the masses and the failure of the US-Arroyo regime in stemming the tide of the armed revolutionary movement.

A word of unsolicited advise to Capt. Garcia: be more original with your lies or you may lose your pathetic job.

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/cgi-bin/statements/stmts.pl?author=smpd;date=100509;lang=eng

[The Vegan Marxist]

05/09/2010 | 11:20 AM
Army readies armed option vs Luna’s NPA captors

Soldiers of the Philippine Army’s 401st Infantry Brigade and the 10th Infantry Battalion from Compostela Valley are forming a circle against the NPA rebels and their captives somewhere between Compostela Valley and Surigao del Sur.

Should the negotiations for the release of Luna and his four security men fail, the military will act once it receives the order, Col. Augusto Tolentino, commanding officer of 401st IB, said in an interview.

“But of course, we will give time to the negotiating team for the safe release of Mayor Luna and his four security escorts before implementing military options", Tolentino said.

The military now knows where the NPA is hiding the kidnapped mayor and the security men, he said.

The NPA rebels holding Luna and his men have also raised the ransom money or "lodging fee" to P10 million from P2 million, according to Tolentino.

The rebels have sent feelers asking Tolentino to cease military operations in the area for the negotiations to proceed smoothly.

But Tolentino said he told the NPA to first release the kidnap victims before military troops will be pulled out of the area.

Luna and his men were on their way to Davao City near the boundary of Barangay Langkilaan, Trento, Agusan del Sur when they were captured by NPA rebels at about 6 a.m. on May 5. (See: NPA kidnaps Surigao mayor, 4 escorts—police)

A crisis committee, headed by Surigao del Sur Gov. Vicente Pimentel Jr., on Thursday tapped Agusan del Sur provincial social welfare officer Josefina Bajade as head negotiator in the talks with NPA rebels. (See: NPA holds Surigao gov’s convoy, seizes 7 firearms)

Bajade and the Agusan del Sur provincial government were responsible for the release of 75 hostages, including 17 schoolchildren, in Sitio Maitum, Barangay San Martin, Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur on Dec. 9, 2010.

National Democratic Front-Northeastern Regional Command (NDF-NMRC) spokesperson Jorge Madlos, a.k.a. Ka Oris, said in a statement the NPA considers the four government security escorts as prisoners of war.

They are Private 1st Class John Rey Abao and PFC1 Arnel Dizon of the 58th IB, and Police Officer 2nd Class Jose de Castro and PO3 Allan Dapitanon of the Philippine National Police in Lingig.

Lt. Col. Gilbert Saret, the Army battalion now pursuing Luna's captors said that Pimentel and his team are now negotiating for the release of Luna his men.

Compostela Valley provincial police chief Sr. Supt. Aaron Aquino said the rebels and their captives already crossed the thickly forested mountain range separating Compostela Valley and Surigao del Sur, and that a possible release might happen on the Surigao side.

This was the second time NPA rebels abducted Luna. In 2007, NPA gunmen posing as government soldiers raided the Lingig police station, using Luna as a human shield while ransacking the station's weapons cache. He was released 12 hours later.

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/190456/army-readies-armed-option-vs-lunas-npa-captors

[The Vegan Marxist]

05/09/2010 | 12:43 AM
NPA holds Surigao gov’s convoy, seizes 7 firearms

BUTUAN CITY — Some 80 heavily-armed NPA rebels blocked and disarmed the three-vehicle convoy of Surigao del Sur Gov. Vicente Pimentel Jr. while on their way to Tandag City at past 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, a flash report from the Philippine Information Agency special election coverage office said.

Gov. Pimentel and his security escorts were on board a convoy of three vehicles—a Toyota Land Cruiser, a Nissan Patrol and a Toyota Hi-Lux—at the Hinatuan-Bislig City boundary road when the camouflage-uniformed suspects flagged them down at Sitio Tandawan, Barangay Loyola, the PIA report said.

Pimentel’s younger brother Johnny, confirmed the incident in a text message.

Pimentel’s vehicle was reportedly able to speed away, but the two other vehicles remained stuck at the NPA checkpoint, forcing the governor’s vehicle to turn back and rejoin the convoy.

The NPA rebels then disarmed Pimentel’s security personnel after a heated altercation that nearly led to a shootout.

Pimentel’s convoy was later allowed to proceed unharmed, minus their firearms. The NPA rebels reportedly seized four M16 rifles, an MP5 rifle, two .45-caliber pistols, and ammunition.

The governor’s party came from Lingig, Surigao del Sur, where Lingig Mayor Roberto Luna Jr. and his four security escorts were being held captive by the NPA in nearby Compostela Valley province.

The governor is head of the crisis committee on the Mayor Luna kidnapping, and was reportedly trying to hold talks with NPA unit holding Luna and his four escorts near the boundary of Surigao del Sur and Compostela Valley before the incident happened.

Pimentel is the regional chairman of the Caraga Region Peace and Order Committee and also an official of the Caraga Regional Development Council.

He is now on his third term as Surigao del Sur governor, and has been campaigning as Lakas-Kampi’s mayoral bet in Carrascal town.

Pimentel’s younger brother, Johnny, is Surigao del Sur provincial administrator, former vice governor, and now Lakas gubernatorial bet. Another Pimentel brother is reelectionist Tandag City Mayor Alexander Pimentel.

The Pimentel family reportedly owns one of the biggest mining companies and timber concession in Surigao del Sur.

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/190446/npa-holds-surigao-govs-convoy-seizes-7-firearms