Archive for March 19th, 2007
AFP: NPA, Abu Sayyaf suffer heavy losses
MANILA, Philippines — Just two months into the military’s new counterinsurgency master plan, the Armed Forces said it had cut the number of New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas by 119 and the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf by 50.
Before Oplan Bantay Laya (Guard Freedom) 2 was launched in January 1, the NPA’s strength had been placed at 7,160, the Abu Sayyaf at 400, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Bartolome Bacarro said.
Bacarro said the military hopes to continue reducing the NPA’s strength by 1,000 fighters a year, the rate at which it has been decreasing since 2001, when the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) was estimated to have 12,000 fighters.
“Our target is three years from now, we will reduce the [NPA] strength from 7,000 to 3,500,” Bacarro said.
The Abu Sayyaf, meanwhile, has been cut in half since 2001, from 800 to its current strength, he added.
Recent Abu Sayyaf casualties include their chieftain, Khadaffy Janjalani, and his second-in-command, Jainal Sali alias Abu Solaiman, killed in encounters with government forces in Sulu in September and January respectively.
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Military scours Leyte for another rebel mass grave
MANILA, Philippines — The military is scouring the mountains of Inopacan town in Leyte province for an alleged second mass grave of suspected military spies to bolster its theory of a purge within the communist movement, a spokesman said Monday.
The discovery of the first supposed grave site, dubbed “The Garden,” led to the multiple murder case against Bayan Muna (People First) Representative Satur Ocampo, who, as an alleged member of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) central committee, was one of those who supposedly ordered the purge in the mid 1980s.
“We are verifying a second grave site. We will dig it up just in case we find it,” military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Bartolome Bacarro said.
Bacarro said the military was investigating if Ocampo also had a hand in the second mass grave.
Like in the case of “The Garden” in Sapang Dako village, where 67 skeletons of suspected military spies were unearthed, villagers tipped off security forces on the second grave in the area, Bacarro told reporters.
Fifteen of the remains in “The Garden” have been identified and were the bases of the murder charges filed before a local court in Tacloban City.
Upon his arrest last Friday, Ocampo said that the bones dug up from the Inopacan mass grave were “fake.” Military officials denied this.
“This is a legitimate mass grave. I would like to highlight the fact that during the excavation, police from the SOCO [scene of the crime operatives] were present,” Bacarro said.
Major General Rodrigo Maclang, who led the digging as commander of the Army’s 8th Infantry Division based in Eastern Visayas, said it would be difficult to plant the bones in the mass grave given the rough terrain in the area.
“It’s about 1,000 feet above sea level and the reporters who joined the chief of staff saw for themselves how difficult the terrain was,” said Maclang, who now commands the Army’s 5th Infantry Division based in Northern Luzon.
“My answer to Satur [Ocampo] is, he should be true to himself, face his crimes, face the families of the victims of the NPA’s [New People's Army] barbarism,” Maclang said in a text message.
Bacarro said security forces had a strong case against Ocampo.
“We have witnesses who would say that he gave the orders to start the purging under Oplan VD [venereal disease],” the spokesman said.
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Bayan Muna tops likely party-list poll winners–survey
MANILA, Philippines — The Bayan Muna party-list group of detained Representative Satur Ocampo is likely to regain its three seats in Congress in the May mid-term elections, according to an independent survey released Monday.
With an over-all voter preference of 11.9 percent, Bayan Muna could muster “more than enough” votes for three seats in the House of Representatives. It also leads 13 “probable winners” in the party-list race, Pulse Asia Inc. said.
Ocampo was arrested last Friday on murder charges filed before a Leyte court over an alleged purge of suspected communist members.
The study polled 1,800 respondents nationwide from February 28 to March 5. It has a margin of error of +/- 2 percent and a confidence level of 95 percent.
Other party-list groups who could win three seats are: Anakpawis (8.0 percent) Akbayan Citizen’s Action Party (7.0 percent), and Gabriela Women’s Party (6.4 percent), Pulse Asia said.
Party-list groups that are likely to win one seat are: Aangat Tayo (3.6 percent), Angat Antas Kabuhayan Pilipino Movement (2.8 percent), Angat Ating Kabuhayan (2.7 percent), Alyansa ng Sambayanan para sa Pagbabago (2.4 percent), Kabataan (2.3 percent), Ahon Pinoy (2.2 percent) and Citizen’s Battle Against Corruption (2.2 percent).
The study also revealed that awareness of party-list groups dropped to 49 percent in March from 55 percent in January.
View article as posted on INQUIRER.net
