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Militarization threathens Abra, Ilocos Sur, Mt. Province, folk — CPDF

BAGUIO CITY (June 29) — Economic activities in the Abra-Mt. Province-Ilocos Sur tri-boundary are curtailed due to massive military operations by the 5th Infantry Division in the said areas since June 9, declared the Cordillera People’s Democratic Front (CPDF) Spokesperson Simon “Ka Filiw” Naogsan in a statement to the press.

Naogsan claimed that the military attacks have wrought havoc on the economic activities of villagers in Tamboan, Banaaw, Ambagis, and Gueday in Besao, Mt. Province; villages Tubtuba, Alangtin, and Baclingayan in Tubo, Abra; and villages Patiacan and Lamag in Quirino, Ilocos Sur.

“The heavy bombardment at the tri-boundary areas has denied the villagers access to their payaw, uma, and pastolan. The civilian populace cannot tend to their production chores, cannot harvest their palay, . They too cannot gather firewood, hunt, nor tend to their animals”, he said.

Combined forces of the 503rd and 502nd Infantry Battalions have saturated the said areas, with aerial bombings from bronco planes (tora-tora), and MG 520 heligunships. Combat troops of the 41st, 54th, 50th, and 77th IB, including the 52nd and 53rd Reconnaissance Coy are deployed in the three provinces, the CPDF claims.

The said military operations are the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) reaction to a New People’s Army (NPA) raid in a military detachment in Tubo, Abra on June 4, where the NPA carted away 29 high-powered rifles. On June 10, an NPA-AFP clash claimed the lives of 9 soldiers, and wounding three others, military sources announced.

Mining related

Naogsan claims that the ongoing militarization “is primarily aimed at paving the way for the smooth entry of big mining companies out to mine ancestral lands and to plunder our natural resources”.

The northern villages of Besao, including upland Bontoc, are the targets of big mining companies, Naogsan said. Prior to the military operations this June, the CPDF leader bared that patrol bases were already put up in Kin-iway, Besao and Guinaang, Bontoc, both in Mt. Province.

“These will serve as armed escorts for the safe entry of big mining corporations and suppress any local opposition,” he said in the statement. The military, according to Naogsan, has been actively launching operations since the Arroyo administration approved the entry of mining firms in the Cordillera region, adding that the military has “consistently protected the interest of Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMCo)”.

Threat to villages

Meanwhile, human rights violations were committed since, according to the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA). On June 18, 2005, government troops interrogated and threatened Diego Mocyat, Jomar Mocyat and a certain Balkang in Anggakbong, Cervantes, Ilocos Sur, the CHRA said in a statement.

Six other nearby nipa huts were forcibly entered and searched. Rice grains were allegedly strewn all over, and the “AFP literally overturned almost everything in these huts, throwing some of the stuff outside, destroying the roofs and leaving them in total mess.”

Several objects, including a telescope, belonging to the villagers were confiscated after the huts were illegally searched. Speakers, sugar, coffee, nylon ropes, pots and packs were also missing, the CHRA reported.

Despite these reports, the military claim otherwise. Brig. Gen. Melchor Dilodilo of the 503rd IB directing the operations belied the CPDF accusation, insisting that they only bombed the NPA encampment. “They (NPA) were very far from the villages,” he said.

The CPDF calls for fetad (people’s war) against the ongoing military attacks and demanded the immediate pullout of the military.

Red fighter slain

Dilodilo confirmed his men killed a member of the NPA but dismissed accusations that they were responsible for the slain rebel’s dismemberment. The CPDF meanwhile claims that red fighter Magno Ayabo was killed last June 13 in Sitio Layaban, Brgy. Beew, in Tubo. The slain rebel, who, according to family members who retrieved him over the weekend, was headless, was reportedly taken by the operating ground troops after he was killed. # via NORDIS

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