DTN News: Philippines TODAY March 7, 2010 ~ Communist Ambush Kills 11 Philippine Soldiers: Military

DTN News: Philippines TODAY March 7, 2010 ~ Communist Ambush Kills 11 Philippine Soldiers: Military Source: DTN News / AFP (NSI News Source Info) MANILA, Philippines - March 7, 2010: Communist guerrillas killed 11 Philippine soldiers Saturday in a gun battle on Mindoro island, south of the capital, a military spokesman said. The soldiers were on patrol when they ran into a fortified camp of the New People's Army (NPA) guerrilla group, said Colonel Romeo Brawner. Seven soldiers were also wounded in the ensuing battle, with "undetermined casualties" among the rebels, he added. "The troops fought it out literally to the last bullet," Brawner said. Among the dead was the lieutenant who led the patrol, he added. Soldiers backed by helicopter gunships had been sent to Mindoro to track down the NPA insurgents, he said. The battle was the fiercest fighting to involve the NPA and the military since nine rebels and one soldier were killed in a raid on a guerilla camp on the southern island of Mindanao in December. In the latest clash, the soldiers were patrolling an area about 90 kilometres (56 miles) from Manila as part of measures to protect candidates in the upcoming May national elections, said Brawner. The NPA has been extorting payments from candidates in exchange for "permits to campaign" cards. Those who refuse to pay are attacked and sometimes killed. This week, suspected communist insurgents shot dead a former policeman running for local office in the May elections after he refused to pay. Last month, the military reported that it had confiscated dozens of "permit to campaign" cards that the NPA rebels were selling to candidates. The permits were being sold at rates that varied according to the position being contested. Candidates for congress were being charged as much as 2.2 million pesos (47,500 dollars) to campaign without being harassed. For the past 40 years the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the NPA, have waged a campaign to seize power. The conflict peaked in the 1980s, when rebel ranks reached 26,000. The military estimates the NPA's numbers have fallen to just above 3,000 but the guerrillas remain a potent force. The military said in September that the communist rebellion had claimed more than 3,000 lives since 2001, including over 500 civilians killed in crossfire.

DTN News: Philippines TODAY September 6, 2009 ~ Philippine Troops Kill 4 Communist Rebels In South

DTN News: Philippines TODAY September 6, 2009 ~ Philippine Troops Kill 4 Communist Rebels In South

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) MANILA, Philippines - September 6, 2009: Army troops clashed with communist guerrillas Sunday in the southern Philippines, killing four rebels and seizing several weapons, officials said. The NPA's armed insurrection followed the traditional pattern of guerrilla warfare. NPA units were formed at the regional and front levels and were normally company-sized or smaller. Main regional guerrilla units usually had 80 to 150 fighters, whereas secondary units had 30 to 60 fighters. NPA operations were, by design, extremely decentralized, with local commanders having wide latitude to conduct attacks as they chose. Typically, NPA elements avoided contact with AFP troops by remaining in remote, mountainous areas until ready to stage an attack. For an assault, they concentrated their forces, forming companies and sometimes battalions to overwhelm government troopers. Afterward, they dispersed to avoid AFP retaliation. Isolated government outposts of the constabulary, police, and militia were favorite targets. The NPA also attacked public buildings such as town halls as a demonstration of its power. The property of uncooperative landowners and businessmen was another common target. The communists normally attacked private property to punish owners for alleged abuses or to coerce the payment of "revolutionary taxes." Attacks on the country's infrastructure were rare; the NPA's demolition of several bridges on Luzon's Bicol Peninsula in 1987 created a popular backlash that apparently caused the NPA to abandon the tactic. The communists' traditionally rural struggle came to the cities in the mid-1980s with the dramatic increase in NPA assassinations. Beginning in 1984, Davao City became the laboratory for the NPA's developing urban warfare strategy. There, armed city partisan units, known popularly as "sparrow teams," murdered local officials, constables, police, and military personnel in a sustained terror campaign. The NPA selectively targeted unpopular officials, claiming that the killings provided revolutionary justice. The NPA's Davao City offensive ended in 1986, but not before Romulo Kintanar, the mastermind of the Davao City offensive and future NPA chief, had initiated a similar operation in Manila. The tempo of sparrow assassinations in the capital increased slowly after 1984, then rose dramatically in 1987. Some 120 officials, including Aquino's secretary of local government, were assassinated by the NPA that year. As sparrow activity escalated, NPA targeting became more indiscriminate. Soldiers and militiamen were patrolling before dawn near a farming village in Agusan del Sur province when they clashed with about two dozen New People's Army guerrillas, regional army spokeswoman Maj. Michele Anayron said. The guerrillas withdrew but troops caught up and clashed with them again about four hours later, she said. Troops recovered the bodies of four rebels along with a grenade launcher, eight assault rifles, a shotgun, a pistol and a land mine, Anayron said. There were no casualties among the government troops. The clashes were the latest eruption of violence in a 40-year Marxist rebellion that is one of the longest in Asia. The government says the rural-based insurgency has claimed about 120,000 lives and helped stunt economic growth. Negotiations between the rebels and the government collapsed in 2004 after the rebels blamed the government for their inclusion on U.S. and European lists of terrorist groups. Both sides took steps to resume the talks in recent weeks but the efforts again fell apart. While she has pursued talks, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo also has ordered the military to crush the insurgency by the time she steps down next year.

DTN News: Philippines ~ Dispute Threatens Talks To End Filipino Rebellion

DTN News: Philippines ~ Dispute Threatens Talks To End Filipino Rebellion *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) MANILA, Philippines - August 24, 2009: A planned resumption this week of talks on ending one of Asia's longest communist rebellions will likely be called off due to a dispute over a rebel demand for the release of jailed comrades, a Philippine official and the rebels said Sunday. A Philippine Air Force gunner mans a machinegun on a Huey military helicopter as it flies over rebel infested Basilan island in southern Philippines August 20, 2009. Peace talks collapsed in 2004 after the communist New People's Army blamed the government for its inclusion on U.S. and European lists of terrorist groups. A Norwegian-brokered meeting in June led to an agreement to resume talks Friday in Oslo. The rural-based rebellion to create a Marxist state has claimed about 120,000 lives and has been blamed by the government for stunting economic growth. Rebel assaults have continued despite efforts to revive the peace talks. Presidential adviser on the peace process Avelino Razon Jr. said the scheduled talks may no longer take place after rebel negotiators insisted on the release of several guerrillas and the dropping of criminal charges against two others demands he said the government could not immediately grant. "It's unlikely the talks will take place as scheduled," Razon said. "We cannot subvert our legal process." Rebel consultant Jose Maria Sison said the Philippine government reneged on an agreement forged in June to either release from detention or drop "trumped-up" criminal charges against about 14 guerrillas who were to serve as consultants in the talks. The government "has rendered extremely difficult or even impossible the resumption of formal talks," Sison, who founded the Communist Party of the Philippines, said in a statement. The Philippine government last month renewed an agreement, suspended in 2005, shielding 87 guerrillas from arrest and criminal prosecution while involved in the talks. However, Razon said the agreement was not a license for the government to free detained rebels or drop criminal charges against others. Sison also condemned the government for agreeing to release a suspected rebel, Randall Echanis, for only six months, "making him a hostaged consultant," he said. Razon said the government could not direct Philippine courts to immediately free detained rebels or summarily drop criminal charges against two suspected guerrillas, who are at large, so they could participate in the talks. Rebel negotiators will seek a meeting with Philippine officials to discuss the issue, Sison said. Government negotiators welcome that proposal, Razon said. The 120,000-strong military has been carrying out sporadic offensives aimed at crushing the insurgency before President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is scheduled to step down next June.