Suspected rebels ambush 2 cops

Philippines – Two policemen were ambushed by suspected Communists rebels while on their way to secure confiscated logs in Butuan City Monday, according to the CARAGA regional police.

Police Officer 2 Adones Dumaboc died while PO2 Sergio Sergio Salagoste was injured.

Senior Superintendent Mario Soriano, acting CARAGA regional director, said the rebels also took the two M16 rifles of the victims.

Soriano said the two cops were supposed to augment a small group of policemen who confiscated illegally-cut logs at Esperanza Veneer Corporation when they were waylaid at around 10 a.m. in Barangay Bit-os in Butuan City.

“The attackers used landmines as revealed by the recovered explosive materials in the area,“ said Soriano. 

After the blast, the official said the rebels also fired at the policemen who were on board a motorcycle when the incident occurred.

“Our investigators recovered more or less 100 pieces of empty shells from the different caliber of firearms,“ he said.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) learlier intensified the antiillegal logging activities in CARAGA region following the onslaught of tropical storm “Ondoy“ last year that left more than 1,000 dead.

The regional director of CARAGA region was relieved last week for failure to stop illegal logging activities as well as eight police commanders in June this year.

Both the police and the military have accused local communist rebels of protecting illegal logging activities in CARAGA and nearby provinces.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aaron Recuenco | Tempo.Com.Ph | August 8, 2012 | Article Link

6 dead in Sayyaf ambush

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Suspected Abu Sayyaf militants ambushed a truckload of rubber plantation laborers in Sumisip, Basilan yesterday, killing six and wounding 22, following a day of fighting in which eight soldiers were wounded, officials said.

Col. Arthur Ang, commander of the Army’s 104th Infantry Brigade based in Tabiawan, Basilan, the militants’ stronghold, blamed al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf rebels for the violence, which came despite efforts by United States-trained Philippine forces to put an end to decades of bombings and ransom kidnappings by the extremists.

Ang said the ambush targeted workers from a rubber plantation that refused to pay the militants’ extortion demands.

The workers were traveling on a truck when the gunmen opened fire, killing five workers and one government militiaman, in Barangay Sapah Bulak, Sumisip town at around 6:59 a.m. yesterday. Twenty-two others were wounded.

The government-armed militia, which provides security for the plantation, repulsed the attackers, Ang said.

The ambush came a day after eight soldiers were wounded when their convoy ran over a homemade bomb in the same area near Sumisip town, said military spokesman Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang.

He said troops were sent to guard voters who were registering for next year’s elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao that includes Basilan.

Abu Sayyaf militants have targeted the Basilan rubber plantation previously over ransom demands.

Three militiamen were killed in an ambush in April, and in 2010, the militants seized and later killed three workers after they failed to collect a ransom.

A decade ago, US troops were deployed in the southern Philippines to train Filipino soldiers to battle the Abu Sayyaf amid several high-profile kidnapping sprees and terrorist attacks.

Philippine offensives have weakened the militants but they remain a threat and are still holding at least five foreign hostages, apparently in an attempt to raise funds for food and weapons in their jungle hideouts.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Philippine Star | July 12,2012 | Article Link

Military to probe Ifugao ambush as troops pursue rebels

MANILA, Philippines – The Armed Forces of the Philippines has formed a board of inquiry to look into the deaths Wednesday of 11 soldiers and a civilian in a New People’s Army ambush in Tinoc town in Ifugao province even as two Army companies were deployed to hunt down the attackers.

AFP spokesman Colonel Arnulfo Burgos said the board of inquiry will be headed by Colonel Reynaldo Labayen.

However, Burgos stressed that the focus of the AFP leadership at the moment is to get the rebels who staged the ambush on a three-vehicle convoy of the 86th Infantry Battalion that was ferrying troops back to headquarters in Kiangan town after turning over their post in Tinoc to a replacement unit.

Burgos said the battalion’s Alpha and Charlie companies were pursuing the rebels.

"The concentration right now is pursuit and making sure that the area is safe and secure," Burgos told reporters.

Earlier, battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Eugene Batara said his operations officer, a captain, and the wife of one of his men were among those killed. Two other soldiers and a civilian were wounded.

Batara, who survived the ambush, said all the casualties were in the lead vehicle of the convoy.

"We condemn in the strongest terms the attack on our soldiers who were there to provide a safe and secure environment for our people," said Burgos.

Burgos appealed to the rebels for sincerity in talking peace and to urge their armed units to stop their attacks.

"Sincerity should be exemplified not just by the top leadership but also translated to the smallest units as well," Burgos said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Abigail Kwok | InterAksyon.com | April 26, 2012 | Article Link

11 soldiers killed in ambush

MANILA, Philippines (3rd UPDATE)- Philippine communist guerrillas killed 11 soldiers and one civilian in an ambush Wednesday, April 25, in the northern mountain town of Tinoc, Ifugao, a military spokesman said.

A three-vehicle Philippine army convoy was attacked by rebels from the New People's Army, Col. Loreto Maguddayao told AFP.

"Eleven soldiers, including an officer, and one civilian riding with them were killed," Maguddayao said.

An army captain was among those killed, but the apparent target was the commander of the 86th infantry battalion, Lt Col Eugenio Batara, who was also in the convoy but escaped unhurt, he said.

A civilian who played in the military brass band was also killed, while two other soldiers and another civilian were wounded.

"This is considered one of the most daring attacks by the NPA in this area in recent years," he said.

The NPA is the armed unit of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which has been waging a rebellion since 1969, in one of Asia's longest running communist insurgencies.

The government last year boasted it had decimated the NPA ranks in the northern mountain regions due to successes on the battlefield and effective community work that turned villagers against the rebels.

Across the Philippines, the military said the NPA's strength has fallen to just over 4,000 fighters as of 2011 from over 26,000 at the peak of its strength in the 1980s.

Firefight is still going on as of posting time, according to Nolcom.

Nolcom is also monitoring the standoff in Scarborough Shoal between Manila and Beijing. The Shoal is off the coast of Zambales, which is under Nolcom's jurisdiction.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rappler.com | April 25, 2012 | Article Link

NPA rebels face murder raps over Antique ambush

ANTIQUE, Philippines – Charges of murder and frustrated murder were filed against nine New People’s Army (NPA) rebels who were allegedly involved in an ambush in San Remigio town here that killed a soldier and militiamen recently.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) in San Remigio and relatives of the victims filed the cases at Antique Provincial Prosecutor's Office against the suspects who, according to the victims’ relatives, frequently visited their barangay before the ambush.

Killed in the ambush in Barangay Panpanan last December 9 were Cpl. Absalon Labitan and two militiamen identified as Julie Juayang and Vivencio Mutha.

According to the complainants, the NPA rebels had been visiting their barangay in the past six months prior to the ambush, convincing the militiamen members to resign and live peacefully as civilians.

The identities of the accused in the murder and frustrated murder cases were withheld.

The PNP has vowed to arrest the suspects once the court issues warrants of arrest.

--------------------------------------

 January 09, 2012 01:17 PM

PhilStar.Com

Link

Local Terrorists Robbed A Villager, Responding Policemen Ambushed

CAMP ELIAS ANGELES, Pili, Camarines Sur – Five members of the 509th Police Provincial Mobile Group (PPMG) were killed and two others were wounded while one rebel was killed in an ambush staged by the Local Terrorist Group (LTG) in Barangay Antipolo, Bulan, Sorsogon at around 1:30pm yesterday (November 9).

Quoting a report from the 903rd Infantry Brigade that reached 9ID Headquarters, Major Harold Cabunoc, the Division Spokesman, said that the incident was directly related to the robbery perpetrated by heavily armed CTs on the home of a certain Mr Gary Goyala, reported to be one of the employees of Congressman Jose Solis in Brgy J.P. Laurel, Bulan, Sorsogon. Responding to the urgent call by terrified neighbors, elements of 509th PPMG led by Police Inspector Jeffrey De Leon proceeded to the area on board a PNP Mobile patrol car. Unfortunately, the blocking elements of the armed robbers strategically positioned in Brgy Antipolo of the same municipality conducted a treacherous ambush using landmines and Molotov bombs.

Receiving an urgent call from heavily engaged PNP personnel, LTC SANTIAGO ENGINCO, battalion commander of the 49th Infantry Battalion, sent a platoon led by 1LT ALFIE LEE to reinforce the beleaguered police personnel. With their swift action, the Army troopers were able to repulse the attackers and killed one of the ambushers. Recovered in the scene were four M16 rifles owned by the PNP, 1 PNP mobile patrol car, unexploded ordnance/IEDs, and the 5 cadavers of PNP personnel. The Army troopers were able to rescue also two (2) wounded police officers, who were immediately rushed to nearby hospital.

The five (5) PNP personnel who were killed were identified as P/Ins Jefferson De Leon, PO1 George Jordan, SPO1 Johson Gerola, PO2 Darwin Detoito and PO1 Ryan Padrigue and the wounding of two others namely, PO1 Franz Guamos and PO1 Alain Lanuza. Initially, PO1 Jordan was reported missing but he was found later by responding Army soldiers.

The LTG activities were significantly hampered by series of setbacks from 9ID troopers. In September 25, 2009, nine (9) LTG members led by a certain Ka Ely, were killed in a daring raid conducted by the Scout Rangers from the 3rd Scout Ranger Battalion. It was followed by the capture of four (4) LTG rebels in Brgy Maalo, Juban, Sorsogon by the 11th Scout Ranger Company and the capture of another four CPP-NPA-NDF members and the recovery of 4 high-powered firearms during a raid on November 7, 2009 in Sitio Sagpang, Siuton, Magallanes, Sorsogon.

Major Cabunoc also said that the effective ISO campaign conducted by the 9ID has pressured the CPP-NPA-NDF rebels. “They are now engaged in plain banditry to sustain their operations”, he added. In a TV interview on November 9, 2009, Nilo Escullar aka “Ka Omar” has admitted that they were indeed involved in extortion activities in remote barangays. “Mga kapatid, bumaba na kayo. Walang kabuluhan itong ipinaglalaban natin!”, Escullar was quoted over ABS-CBN Bicol.
___________
http://pio9id.blogspot.com/2009/11/local-terrorists-robbed-villager.html