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NPA raids army detachment in Mankayan, Benguet

MANKAYAN, Benguet (Feb. 11) — Two army soldiers and a Citizens Armed Forces and Geographic Unit (CAFGU)element were killed, while another army soldier was wounded when a small platoon of New People’s Army (NPA) members raided the detachment of the 54th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA) and CAFGU in Barangay Cabiten, Mankayan.

The encounter lasted from noon to 3:30 pm on February 10. The unit was from the Jennifer “Maria” Cariño Command (JMCC) of NPA-Benguet

The NPA seized 23 firearms (four M16, one M203, seven M14, 11 Garand rifles), several bullets and backpacks.

“The NPA guerillas were able to withdraw safely. Hot pursuit operations are currently underway,” the press statement by JMCC spokesperson Sey-ang Rayos read.

According to the statement, the raid is part of the JMCC’s response to the call of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) to intensify tactical offensives as the NPA’s contribution towards overthrowing the corrupt Arroyo regime. The statement also said that it was “a punishment for the military and paramilitary units used by Lepanto Mining Company to exploit and oppress its workers.”

Furthermore, the raid was supposedly the “revolutionary justice for blood debts” occurred during the strike of the Lepanto workers in the past years.

The troopers of the 54th IB and CAFGU based in the Cabiten detachment, together with the police, have long been serving as Lepanto’s minions trying to suppress and terrorize the people, Rayos affirmed.

Rayos explained that these people are only fighting for their ancestral land, their rights, and the environment. The military, police, and CAFGU have a lost list of crimes against the peasant farmers of Mankayan and Cervantes, against the mine workers in Lepanto, and against the revolutionary mass movement.

The statement also discussed on the brutal suppression of the Colalo people against the construction of Tailings Dam 5A. It also included the call against Lepanto’s landgrabbing of Bulalacao people just for expanding its mining operations.

“Together with the Mankayan Philippine National Police and the 1604th PMG based in Camp Dangwa, they brutally dispersed the picket lines, peaceful assembly, and march-rallies of on-strike workers last June-September 2005,” the statement declared.

This claim are about the “vicious operations” that harrassed, murdered and tortured some Mankayan people since 2003.

Some of the incidents are as follows: murder of Efren Agsayang (September 8, 2003); the torture, murder, and mutilation of NPA members captured and rendered hors de combat on August 17, 2005, among other cases.

Among the harrassments are: illegal arrest and torture of Joseph Coop (September 28, 2003); harassment of Colalo people from Ampontoc (September 2003); and harassment of Bulalacao people from Posdo (October-November 2003).

“The tactical offensive serves as a stern warning to the military and paramilitary troops, including intelligence agents, who continue to violate the people’s human rights and serve the rapacious interests of destructive corporate mining,” the statement concluded. # via NORDIS

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