4 killed and 5 wounded on the side of the 17th IB in another NPA ambush

[marco]

4 killed and 5 wounded on the side of the 17th IB in another NPA ambush

Ka Tipon Gil-ayab
Lejo Cawilan Command, NPA - Kalinga
May 16, 2013

At 5 o’clock yesterday morning, another ambush was successfully staged
by Red fighters from the Marcial Daggay Front (MDF) along the road and
near the Ayaya Waiting Shed in Sitio Sidog, Barangay Limos, Pinukpuk,
Kalinga. Confirmed by the unit command of the MDF and seen by civilians
nearby, killed were four (4) fascist soldiers and five (5) other
troopers were wounded. But insiders from the AFP’s 5thInfantry Division
confirm that from the initial four (4) killed and five (5) wounded,
three (3) more died from among those wounded bringing the figures to
eight (8) killed and two (2) wounded . The casualties were all from the
newly transferred and retrained 17th IB. To save face, Lt. Col. Alvin V.
Flores, the Commanding Officer of the 17th IB, whose HQ is based at
Kapanikian, Camalog, Pinukpuk, told to print and broadcast media that
only 3 of their troops were wounded.

This is the second ambush the NPA-Kalinga launched this month. The first
was carried out by the NPA unit from the Abraham Bannawagan Front (ABF)
at Sitio Patiging, Barangay Bagumbayan, Tabuk at 9:30 in the morning of
May 9 where two (2) soldiers died and six (6) were injured from the 17th
IB, and with 1 M16 rifle seized by the people’s army. There was no NPA
casualty on the 2 tactical offensives.

These tactical offensives of the NPA are directed against elements of
the fascist AFP-PNP-CAFGU, especially when they embark on intelligence,
combat and “peace and development” team (PDT) operations to impose the
oppressive authority of the reactionary government on the people, even
to the extent of trampling on the people’s democratic and civil rights.
Wherever and whenever these operations of the enemy occur, the NPA does
its best to take military actions against these fascist troops to
protect the interests and defend the democratic rights of the oppressed
and exploited masses. These tactical offensives of the NPA were not
meant to disrupt the reactionary electoral process but are part of
regular military actions. These also serves as punitive actions due to
continuing terror undertaken by the fascist AFP and its minions against
the people, especially during the election period. The AFP-PNP-CAFGU
terror and sabotage operations are meant to discourage the populace from
voting for candidates and parties who support the people’s demands, even
as they serve as security personnel of candidates who have been active
in buying the people’s votes, and to ensure the victory of the
anti-people candidates in order to strengthen the oppressive and
exploitative pillars of the ruling reactionary system.

To downplay the NPA successful tactical offensives in the span of just 5
days, the AFP commanders proclaimed hilariously to the media that said
ambushes were undertaken because “NPA candidates and party lists” lost
in the recent elections. This is clearly red-baiting to harass and
malign progressive party lists and candidates, a significant number of
whom lost because of the intensified terror and sabotage operations by
the reactionary armed forces of the ruling classes that terrorized the
voting populace. Through fraud and the use of “guns, goons and gold”,
the reactionary AFP-PNP-CAFGU and the diehard anti-people politicians
were in cahoots in manipulating the recent sham election in order to
consolidate the ruling system and deodorize the Aquino regime, the
present puppet of US imperialism. They systematically removed and
destroyed the campaign paraphernalia of the progressive party lists and
candidates; and they vilified and blamed the latter for military actions
undertaken by the NPA.

In reality, the recent sham election is just part of the OPlan Bayanihan
of the fascist AFP. In essence, both are, anti-people and
anti-democratic, anti-development and anti-peace. OPLan Bayanihan and
the recent May 13 Elections serve to perpetuate the oppressive and
exploitative semi-colonial and semi-feudal system of Philippine society,
which is ruled by the big landlords and compradors under the dictate of
US imperialism. Both mirror the true image of the reactionary US-Aquino
regime, the head of the ruling state of big compradors and landlords.
Under the present regime, exploitation of the Filipino workers and
peasants is intensified, and the national patrimony and sovereignty of
the Filipino people and the ancestral lands and the rich natural
resources of the national minorities continue to be under the control of
the landlord-compradors and bureaucrat officials who implement the
economic and political policies and the military programs of US
imperialism in the whole country. And such would only result to the ever
worsening human rights violations, poverty and hunger of the suffering
majority of the masses.

Under the fascist AFP’s OPlan Bayanihan, the PDT operations continue to
trample on the people’s rights. These are, in fact, a violation of the
Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and
International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) that has been turned into a
mockery by the US-Aquino regime. The peace negotiations between the GRP
and the NDFP has long been stalled as the only desire of the reactionary
Aquino regime, its fascist AFP and its US imperialist master is the
capitulation of the revolutionary movement. They are persistently luring
the CPP-NPA and the NDFP into a trap by promoting localized peace talks
in order to weaken and defeat the revolutionary forces.

There is no sign at all for the US-Aquino regime to open up towards
fundamental changes in Philippine society. This only proves the
correctness of the national-democratic revolution through people’s war
as the only right path to liberate the Filipino people. We, therefore,
call on all the democratic classes and sectors of Philippine society to
send their sons and daughters to join the NPA. And let us launch more
tactical offensives to contribute to the advance of the people’s war to
the strategic stalemate and to final victory.