Nahuhubaran na ang “Makataong” Tabing ng Balikatan 2009

AFP ready to repel Reds during Balikatan
By Jocelyn Uy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Filed Under: Guerrilla activities, Military, Armed conflict, Security (general)
MANILA, Philippines—The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is not taking any chances when the annual RP-US Balikatan military exercise begins in April in three Bicol provinces.

A new battalion of 500 soldiers will be deployed to beef up security in the region to thwart any attacks by the New People’s Army (NPA), said Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Sodusta, 9th Infantry Division chief.

“I have the 49th Infantry Battalion—a new battalion—that will be deployed next month to areas covered by the exercise,” Sodusta told reporters at Camp Aguinaldo by phone.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) announced on its website Sunday it had ordered the NPA, its armed wing, to attack Filipino and American troops and launch tactical offensives during Balikatan.

“We are prepared for that… so far we are conducting several meetings and seminars to talk about security,” Sodusta said.

Now on its 14th year, the RP-US Balikatan exercises will be staged in Albay, Masbate and Sorsogon—provinces identified as remaining strongholds of the NPA.

But the military stressed the exercises in Bicol would comprise only humanitarian projects like medical missions and engineering works.

In Legazpi City, Col. Ariel Bernardo, commander of the Army’s 901st Brigade, said they were prepared for attacks by the NPA.

“It only shows [the CPP-NPA] is antidevelopment, anti-poor and anti-peace. Who would not want schools and roads to be built and medical and dental missions to benefit the people?” Bernardo said.

But the National Democratic Front (NDF), the CPP’s political arm, has charged Balikatan (meaning shoulder to shoulder) was a front for another agenda.

Greg Bañares, Bicol spokesperson of the NDF, said Balikatan could be used to spy on revolutionary movements and as to allow US soldiers to intervene in the armed battles between government troops and NPA guerrillas. With reports from Delfin Mallari Jr. and Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon

CPP 40th Anniversary at You Tube – 40th Photo Slides

View Bicol Photo Slides during the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines

CPP 40th Anniversary in Bicol Photos

View Bicol Photos –IN celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines, Bicol revolutionary forces and masses pay tribute to martyrs,conduct mass meetings and cultural presentations.

CPP 40th Anniversary You Tube Video-40tanghal

Pangkulturang Pagtatanghal sa ika-40 Anibersaryo ng PKP sa Bikol

CPP 40th Anniversary You Tube Video-Martsa40

Marts sa ika-40 Anib ng Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP)

Bicol Photos: CPP 40th anniversary

IN celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Communist Part of the Philippines,
Bicol revolutionary forces and masses pay tribute to martyrs and conduct mass meetings and cultural presentations.

CPP 40th Anniversary You Tube Video – bikol40

CPP at 40

NPA unilateral ceasefire and humanitarian assistance in times of natural disasters

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Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said today that in times of natural disasters, the declaration and implementation of unilateral ceasefire and humanitarian assistance in disaster-stricken areas are part of standard operating procedures (SOP).

The CPP spokesperson Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal explained that “This is a matter of policy of the CPP, the New People’s Army (NPA) and the revolutionary movement—whether or not the government and its armed forces issue a similar declaration.”

Rosal made this clarification as he scoffed at AFP chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon’s “hypocritical declaration of a SOMO (suspension of military operations) and “appeal” to the NPA to do the same “in anticipation” of the wide swath of destruction expected with the arrival of Typhoon Mina in the Minaropa (Mindoro-Marinduque-Romblon-Palawan) region.

“Huwag kang magpaka-plastic, dahil tagos-tagos ang pagkatraydor ng inyong mga SOMO” (Don’t be such a hypocrite, because your treachery shows through), Rosal said, citing, for one, an incident in August last year where, the Bicol-region based 9th Infantry Division forces of the Philippine Army treacherously took advantage of the CPP-NPA’s ceasefire and launched a military offensive against a unit of the NPA within the 15-kilometer zone around Mayon volcano where the National Democratic Front (NDF)-Bicol had declared a unilateral ceasefire for the duration of the disaster situation there.

Despite an AFP-declared SOMO in the Mayon volcano area, the military was not doing any honest-to-goodness relief and evacuation assistance, said Rosal. He said that while pretending to assist the people, the real objective of the AFP’s massive deployment in disaster-striken areas where the NPA operates is to take advantage of the situation and launch attacks against the NPA and its mass base in the area.

Rosal said that upon learning of the presence of an NPA unit helping out in the relief and evacuation of residents affected by volcanic activities in the Mayon volcano area, the 9th IB forces pursued the NPA unit. Rosal narrated that the NPA fighters were compelled to fight back to defend themselves and to be able to slip out of the range of the hostile attack as soon as possible. Rosal recalled that 9 th ID spokesman Lt. Col. Serafin Raymundo even shamelessly justified his unit’s treachery against the NPA, saying the AFP does not respect the NDF’s unilateral ceasefire.

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