AFP claims NPAs into another purging

The military yesterday claimed to have uncovered another purging campaign by the communist New People’s Army (NPA), targeting former rebels in the Visayas region, as revealed by captured documents and communist leaders in Negros areas.

Army 3rd Infantry Division (ID) chief Maj. Gen. Vicente Porto cited the killing on Wednesday of a former member of the Revolutionary Proletariat Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB) Renante Canete, as clear indication of the communist purging.

Canete was shot to death by five suspected NPA assassins near his home in barangay Lopez Jaena in Sagay City, Negros Occidental.

Porto also mentioned the capture two weeks ago of Danilo Escropolo Badayos, the NPA’s Central Visayas Regional Committee Front secretary, in Dumaguete City, along with subversive documents, containing supposed plans to execute former communist mass supporters and leaders who have now sided with the military.

“The recovery of these plans provides us a correct picture of the situation in our area, especially in Negros. We now have everything we need to stay two steps ahead of the NPA. Our troops will continue to remain vigilant and with the information gathered from these documents, we will now bring the fight to them,” said Porto.

Lt. Mark Andrew Posadas, spokesman of Army 3rd ID, said the recent activity by the NPA in Negros region confirms the contents of subversive documents recovered from Badayos.

“We are seeing a pattern in these killings and terrorist acts consistent with the plans seized from Badayos. We now have evidence thru these documents that these systematic killing of civilians as military targets is sanctioned by the communist party’s highest leadership and are carried out by the NPA,” said Posadas.

Recovered documents from Badayos revealed that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) intends to pursue a strategy of terrorism guided by their vision of elevating the so-called “people’s war” to the highest level, disregarding Rules of Engagement and respect for International Humanitarian Law.

The plans encouraged the use of illegal landmines and explosives in populated areas which is a clear violation of the Geneva Convention. The documents also outlined the systematic murder of unarmed civilians as a way to terrorize the masses into submission.

During the celebration of the CPP-NPA-NDF’s 40th year, they vowed to elevate the “People’s War to the highest level (I-angat ang digmaang bayan sa pinakamataas na antas) by increasing the volume of their violent activities.

“They have now adopted a more violent strategy wherein they intend to focus more on violent tactical offensives over mass-works. This sudden shift in strategy is a response to the successful insulating factor of the Army’s Civil Military Operations in insurgency affected barangays. These empowered barrios to stand up against the NPA in the name of community defense and are now the targets of retaliation of the terrorists,” said Posadas.

In the 1980s, the NPA also launched a wide-scale purging of suspected government agents within the communist ranks in various parts of the country. –Mario J. Mallari, Daily Tribune