Civilians led Army troops to three encampments of the New People’s Army within Caramoran’s forests, including two discovered just last week, as it revved up combat operations just three months after it deployed to Catanduanes in August.
Lt. Col. Romeo Basco, commanding officer of the 83rd Infantry Battalion (PA), said the help of civilians, particularly residents of rural barangays, helped the Army find the camps located near the boundaries of Caramoran, Viga and Panganiban.
Within four hours beginning 7 A.M. last Oct. 15, soldiers led by Lt. Edmar Gambot came upon the two abandoned rebel camps in barangay Maysuram.
The first camp at sitio Can-atbong was determined to be a physical base where the rebels regroup for a meeting or plan for a tactical offensive. The camp could accommodate 30 or more persons and was hard to find as it was hidden in a forested area, the report said. Evidence of its use was based on wooden frames used in propping up sackolin or laminated sacks while cut-up wooden posts and wastes were left in the area.
The second camp at sitio Tacad, Lt. Col. Basco revealed, was more or less a semi-permanent base as it consisted of eight huts, one comfort room, a kitchen and two water points composed of split bamboo used to draw water from a stream. He added that one of the huts may have been used as a multipurpose area for lectures and teach-ins. Also left behind by the communist guerillas was a small transistor radio said to be the property of Daniel "Ka Tabs" Frias, a known NPA commander in the Nerissa San Juan Command. The Army troops found drops of blood on a rock adjacent to one of the nipa huts, evidence that the NPA suffered injuries during the Oct. 6 encounter in barangay Sabloyon.
The first rebel camp the Army found last August in the same barangay consisted of five huts that could comfortably accommodate 30 NPAs and even had an improvised chinning bar for exercise.
Maysuram has been the home of the Sentro ng Depensang Grupo (SDG) of the Catanduanes NPA headed by Michael "Ka Melwin" Guerrero, the Army said, as it was the place where the seed of communism in the island was first sown. Lt. Col. Basco said the Nerissa San Juan Command took its name from Nerissa Pongan, a Red fighter slain in November 2003, and her husband Rommel San Juan, who lived in the barangay where their son still lives with his grandfather.
"With these developments, the operational capability of the NPA in Catanduanes is starting to be constricted. We need to press the fight in a wholistic approach involving local government units and other sectors of the community in order to rid the province of this menace," Basco stressed, adding that the CPP-NPA has not contributed anything to development from an economic point of view.
The communist guerillas, he said, would be vulnerable to combat operations and would be forced to go to areas not under their control.
PNP provincial director Senior Superintendent Rodegelio Gerero agreed, saying that the rebels may be already mixing with the local population in town centers as they are finding it difficult to conduct mass works in interior barangays. He added that the people initially doubted the deployment of Army troops on a permanent basis but the ordinary people have started to help the government in the anti-insurgency campaign.
On the other hand, Lt. Col. Basco said the 83rd IB will not rest in its pursuit of armed groups in the mountains and called on residents of remote areas to just leave their house if armed men ask permission to stay.
He likewise confirmed that the battalion is imposing the highest discipline on its troops and that it has not imposed restrictions on the movements of civilians near and around the Army camp in Lictin, San Andres as claimed by some media personalities.
Source: Catanduanes Tribune - October 21,2009
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Lt. Col. Romeo Basco, commanding officer of the 83rd Infantry Battalion (PA), said the help of civilians, particularly residents of rural barangays, helped the Army find the camps located near the boundaries of Caramoran, Viga and Panganiban.
Within four hours beginning 7 A.M. last Oct. 15, soldiers led by Lt. Edmar Gambot came upon the two abandoned rebel camps in barangay Maysuram.
The first camp at sitio Can-atbong was determined to be a physical base where the rebels regroup for a meeting or plan for a tactical offensive. The camp could accommodate 30 or more persons and was hard to find as it was hidden in a forested area, the report said. Evidence of its use was based on wooden frames used in propping up sackolin or laminated sacks while cut-up wooden posts and wastes were left in the area.
The second camp at sitio Tacad, Lt. Col. Basco revealed, was more or less a semi-permanent base as it consisted of eight huts, one comfort room, a kitchen and two water points composed of split bamboo used to draw water from a stream. He added that one of the huts may have been used as a multipurpose area for lectures and teach-ins. Also left behind by the communist guerillas was a small transistor radio said to be the property of Daniel "Ka Tabs" Frias, a known NPA commander in the Nerissa San Juan Command. The Army troops found drops of blood on a rock adjacent to one of the nipa huts, evidence that the NPA suffered injuries during the Oct. 6 encounter in barangay Sabloyon.
The first rebel camp the Army found last August in the same barangay consisted of five huts that could comfortably accommodate 30 NPAs and even had an improvised chinning bar for exercise.
Maysuram has been the home of the Sentro ng Depensang Grupo (SDG) of the Catanduanes NPA headed by Michael "Ka Melwin" Guerrero, the Army said, as it was the place where the seed of communism in the island was first sown. Lt. Col. Basco said the Nerissa San Juan Command took its name from Nerissa Pongan, a Red fighter slain in November 2003, and her husband Rommel San Juan, who lived in the barangay where their son still lives with his grandfather.
"With these developments, the operational capability of the NPA in Catanduanes is starting to be constricted. We need to press the fight in a wholistic approach involving local government units and other sectors of the community in order to rid the province of this menace," Basco stressed, adding that the CPP-NPA has not contributed anything to development from an economic point of view.
The communist guerillas, he said, would be vulnerable to combat operations and would be forced to go to areas not under their control.
PNP provincial director Senior Superintendent Rodegelio Gerero agreed, saying that the rebels may be already mixing with the local population in town centers as they are finding it difficult to conduct mass works in interior barangays. He added that the people initially doubted the deployment of Army troops on a permanent basis but the ordinary people have started to help the government in the anti-insurgency campaign.
On the other hand, Lt. Col. Basco said the 83rd IB will not rest in its pursuit of armed groups in the mountains and called on residents of remote areas to just leave their house if armed men ask permission to stay.
He likewise confirmed that the battalion is imposing the highest discipline on its troops and that it has not imposed restrictions on the movements of civilians near and around the Army camp in Lictin, San Andres as claimed by some media personalities.
Source: Catanduanes Tribune - October 21,2009
RELATED LINKS:
- Rebellion, Child Abuse Raps to be Filed vs NPA - The Philippine National Police and the Philippine Army will file rebellion and child abuse charges against 20 members of the New People's Army here.
- Army Troops Dismantle Rebel Camps in Catanduanes - Government troops raided on Thursday a rebel camp in the hinterland village of sitio Tacad, barangay Maysuran in Caramoran town.
- 3 Minors Nabbed in Bicol Encounter with Rebels - Government troops arrested three minors who were allegedly members of the New People's Army at the height of an encounter in Catanduanes.
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