Offensives, encounters in militarized Magpet scoff at AFP claims of weakened NPA
A police officer was killed while 11 other PNP personnel were wounded
in the wake of a successful demolition operation by Red fighters under
Mt. Apo Sub-Regional Operations Command, January 28 at around 5:30pm,
in Purok 4, Sitio Kabisig, Brgy. Poblacion in Magpet, North Cotabato.
The tactical offensive, launched in the militarized town of Magpet,
targeted fully-armed members of the PNP Provincial Mobile Company on
board 2 patrol cars.
Killed in said tactical offensive was PO1 Christopher Anadon while PO1
Stephenson Parreno, SPO1 Michael Escano, PO2 Marinerl Pastores, PO1,
Eliezer Langcuban, PO1 Darrell Ferolino, PO1 Phil Jan Ray Canarejo,
PO1 Franz Deo Lechago, PO1 Mark Vincent Capilitan, PO2 Dennis Dorado,
SPO1 Wilfred Perocho, PO1, Ian Francis Seniel were injured in varying
degrees of severity.
A day before this, on January 27, an NPA unit fended off an attack
carried out by members of the 19th IB and their paramilitary Bagani in
Sitio Salingsing, Brgy. Amabel. A Red fighter, Ronnie “Ka Dindo” Awe,
44, was martyrinitiativeed while his son, Ka Wing Wing, 20, was
wounded during the encounter. Ka Wing Wing, who sustained fatal bullet
wounds, was evacuated safely but enemy personnel, in direct violation
of international war protocols regarding hors de combat, arrested him
en route to the hospital. He is currently under military custody while
in a hospital in Davao City.
There is no truth to the claims being spread by the AFP in the media
that the NPA sustained more casualties during the encounter. Red
fighters were able to adeptly retain initiative to deflect the enemy’s
planned attack. As is their standard operating procedure, the 19th IB
rained heavy artillery for 4 hours the next day, January 28, in the
densely populated area.
For several months now, the fascist 19th IB and 39th IB in North
Cotabato have been harping on about significantly reducing the
fighting capacity of the NPA in the province or having caused the NPA
to lose support from the masses in the areas. Neither of these claims
bear any modicum of truth as evidenced by the continued military
actions being launched and by the active defense being carried out by
the NPA. The fact that the demolition operation for instance was
conducted—with no civilian or unintended casualty—near the town proper
proves absolutely that the Red army has lost neither its mastery of
guerilla warfare nor the support of its mass base.
The truth is that the NPA and the revolutionary movement in North
Cotabato continue to take active offensive posture in the face of
intensifying militarization by the 19th IB, the 39th IB, the local PNP
and their paramilitaries and the US-Duterte regime’s wanton disregard
for the welfare of the masses. Fascism and state neglect have equally
pushed the peasants, Lumad and other masses in the province to resist
and bear arms in order to confront the daily economic and political
attacks of the regime.