Rebels raid village, seize arms cache

KIDAPAWAN CITY - Some 60-armed members of the New Peoples’ Army (NPA) raided a Moro community in a town in Makilala, North Cotabato, and carted away 16 firearms, at 3:15 p.m. last Saturday, an Army official said.

Lt. Manuel Gatus, commander of the Charlie Company of the 57th Infantry Battalion, said the rebels arrived on foot at Sitio Lacobe in Barangay Malabuan in Makilala town and pretended they were soldiers from the 38th Infantry Battalion allegedly tasked to get the villagers' firearms for inspection.

"The villagers, mostly members of a Maguindanaon tribe, were told to gather at the village center for a meeting and while this was on going, some of the rebels forcibly entered the houses and confiscated whatever firearms they could recover from the place," Gatus said.

Gatus said the rebels confiscated eight home-made Uzi pistols, five home-made Ingram pistols, two 38 caliber revolvers, and an M-79 grenade launcher.

The guns, said Gatus, are owned by the Baclid family and their relatives, many of whom are elements of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu).

The raid, the military official stressed, happened two weeks after the decades-old land conflict between the Baclid family and the Ilonggo settlers in the village was finally resolved through years of negotiations and interventions from the government, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), in particular.

The rebels are reportedly against the conflict resolution saying it was “unfair” and “unjust” on the part of the settlers.

Records from DAR showed a wide area of the land in conflict was given to the Baclid family.

The Baclids have long claimed sitio Lacobe as part of their ancestral land.

"In the 70s, during the wars in Mindanao, the Baclids were driven away from their lands. But in the 90s, when everything has returned to normalcy, they returned to their homes. They were surprised, however, to see Ilonggos tilling their lands," said Gatus, citing as basis the account of the Baclids.

The Ilonggos, however, claimed they bought the lands from landowners and other residents of the place. They showed as proof their land titles.

Gatus said that as soon as they confirmed reports the rebels raided the place and carted the villagers’ firearms they immediately sent teams to run after the NPAs whom they believed have set up bases along the boundary of Makilala and Tulunan towns in North Cotabato and in Columbio, Sultan Kudarat.

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Malu Cadeliña Manar | Sun Star Davao | February 27, 2013 | Article Link

5 soldiers hurt in clash with NPA rebels

COTABATO CITY, Philippines  – Five soldiers were wounded in two days of hostilities which started Monday between government forces and communist rebels in North Cotabato’s restive Makilala town.

The latest encounter between New People’s Army guerrillas and soldiers, which erupted early Tuesday in Barangay New Israel, Makilala left two soldiers, initially identified only as Cpls. Pantasan and Soria, badly wounded.

The wounded soldiers, who both belong to the 6th ID’s elite 62nd Division Reconnaissance Company, and several companions were on their way to a hinterland area in Barangay New Israel on board an Army truck when NPAs, positioned at one side of the road, shot them with assault rifles.

The companions of Pantasan and Soria managed to jump out of their vehicle and engage their attackers, preventing the rebels from closing in on the soldiers. 
   
The attackers scampered away after sensing that responding soldiers from a nearby Army base, backed by militiamen, have started arriving at the scene.

Inspector Rizal Alolod, the acting Makilala municipal police chief, said the soldiers the NPAs ambushed were on their way to check on complaints of farmers on the extortion by rebels of “revolutionary tax” in Barangay New Israel.

NPA rebels have been frequenting the secluded barangay, where they force farmers to give them money and food at gunpoint.

The latest NPA attack in Barangay New Israel came less than 24 hours after rebels opened fire on another group of soldiers searching for landmines and roadside bombs in an open field in another area not far from the scene of the ambush.

They wounded soldiers, Cpls. Antonio Grafil Jr., Allan Lauria, and Jonathan Santos, who are now undergoing medication at the Makilala Medical Specialist Center at the town proper of Makilala.

Local officials said the NPAs in North Cotabato’s adjoining Magpet, Makilala, Arakan and Antipas towns have been counter-attacking combatants of the 6th ID and its component-unit, the 602nd Brigade, for having liberated more than 20 guerilla enclaves in the four towns the past five months.

Col. Ademar Tomaro, commander of the 602nd Brigade, said NPAs in North Cotabato have also been trying to return to their former camps, which they intend to use as “springboards” for their extortion activities that would target politicians that would campaign  in far-flung areas. 
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John Unson | The Philippine Star | February 12, 2013 | Article Link 

Rebels abduct Manobo tribesman in North Cotabato

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Communist rebels are holding captive a Manobo tribesman, who survived a landmine blast that left his brother and two soldiers dead three days ago in Makilala, North Cotabato.

The captive, Postelo Egkil, and his slain sibling, Jumer, were aiding members the Army's 40th and 57th Infantry Battalions (IB) locate encampments of the New People's Army in Barangay Buhay, when a soldier stepped on a landmine, triggering a powerful blast.

Two soldiers identified as Pfc. Celestino Alejandro and Pfc. Ismirol Musa, members of the 40th IB, died from the blast.

Army officials said Egkil could have been disoriented by the explosion and strayed deep into a nearby forest crawling with NPA fighters.

Manobo settlers in Barangay Buhay, located at the foot of Mt. Apo, have been helping the military track down NPA rebels in the area, apparently incensed by the rebels' excessive taxation activities.

Lt. Col. Noel Dela Cruz, The commanding officer of the 57th IB, said the rebels blasted 10 powerful roadside bombs Monday morning, as if trying to scare civilians for them no to cooperate with the military.

The bombing frenzy came at the heels of last week's bloody encounter between the Army and the rebels in Barangay Buhay, which left five soldiers wounded.

Local officials and key members of Makilala's municipal peace and order council have confirmed that four NPA rebels were killed while five others, mostly adolescents, were wounded in the ensuing firefights, which forced dozens of families to evacuate to safer areas.

The rebels were led by two notorious commanders, Budong and Enoy, both wanted for heinous offenses, including arson, armed robberies and multiple murders.

Makilala's municipal social welfare officer, Lina Canedo, said many of the evacuees are now housed in makeshift evacuation sites.

"Some of them are in the houses of their relatives in nearby barangays," she said.

Local officials are now trying to secure the release of the Manobo tribesman being held captive by the rebels.

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John Unson | The Philippine Star | March 07, 2012 | Article Link

Landmine kills 2 soldiers, farmer

MANILA -- The Philippine military said a landmine believed to have been planted by communist guerrillas has killed two soldiers and a farmer in the country's south.

Army Colonel Leopoldo Galon said a platoon of soldiers was patrolling a trail Monday in the mountainous outskirts of Makilala town in North Cotabato province when the landmine exploded.

Galon said the farmer had been walking with the troops. His body was thrown off a ravine by the blast and was later recovered.

Communist New People's Army guerrillas were believed to be responsible. More than 120,000 combatants and civilians have been killed in the 43-year Marxist insurgency, one of Asia's longest.

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AP | Monday, March 5, 2012 | SunStar.Com.Ph | Article Link

5 soldiers hurt in N. Cotabato clash with NPA rebs

Five soldiers were injured Sunday morning in an encounter with some 50 fully-armed communist rebels in a remote village in Makilala town in the southern Philippine province of North Cotabato.
 
Reports reaching the Makilala Police said troops from the 57th Infantry Battalion were patrolling the hinterlands of Barangay Batasan, a known lair of New Peoples’ Army rebels, when they chanced upon the insurgents, triggering a firefight that lasted for 40 minutes.
 
The rebels withdrew to the upper portion of Barangay Buenavida after troops from the 68th Infantry Battalion reinforced the patrolling soldiers, reports said.
 
At least 51 families from two villages in Makilala evacuated to safer areas for fear that the fighting might continue and they would be caught in the crossfire.

Of that number, 40 families were from Purok-6, Barangay Batasan, and 11 from Sitio Apoy-Apoy, Barangay Buenavida.
 
The local government unit of Makilala has already sent food items to the evacuees.
 
Names of the injured soldiers were not yet available as of posting time.
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Malu Cadelina Manar/KBK | GMA News | March 4, 2012 4:50pm | Article Link