On the April 23 ambush by the NPA on the 46th IB
The Arnulfo Ortiz Command of the New People’s Army in Western Samar successfully ambushed a unit of the Charlie Company under the 46th IB of the Philippine Army last April 23 in Calbiga town. The soldiers were patrolling before returning to Barangay Buluan when they were hit with a command detonated explosive at around 3:40 a.m. between Barangay Beri and Barangay Buluan. Six enemy soldiers were immediately killed in action while nine others were wounded in action. The NPA confiscated a K3 light machine gun, one R4 rifle, one .45 pistol, 500 bullets and three box magazines for the K3, other military equipment and documents of high intelligence value.
The tactical offensive is the NPA’s response to the many complaints made by the peasant masses over the military’s so-called peace and development team (PDT) operations that are essentially combat-intelligence-psywar operations. These include violations made only these April, such as illegal searches of the peasants’ houses, threats and Red-tagging of innocent civilians, encamping inside the barrios, and investigating and accusing civilians of being NPA supporters.