ILOILO City – Some 15 New People’s Army (NPA) rebels sprayed with bullets two detachments of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) in Tapaz, Capiz yesterday around 1 a.m.
“We expected those harassments. Our men were vigilant and repelled the rebels,” said Lieutenant Colonel Sisenando Magbalot Jr., commander of the Philippine Army’s 61st Infantry Battalion (61IB).
Government troops have been put on red alert. The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) would be marking its 50th founding anniversary this Dec. 26.
The NPA, the armed wing of the communist party, usually marked the day with offensives against government troops.
The detachments were in Barangay Abangay and Barangay Katipunan, Tapaz. No Cafgu members were hurt.
In the Barangay Abangay detachment, the firefight between the rebels and Cafgu members lasted for 20 minutes.
After nearly an hour, the rebels fired at the detachment in Barangay Katipunan for some three minutes then retreated.
According to Magbalot, the rebels belonged to NPA-Panay’s central front committee and led by Francisco “Ka Tonying” Balaios.
“We know the rebels’ plans. We have enough men to fight them,” he said.
The Cafgu was created in July 1987. Barely six months after the 1987 Constitution took effect, then President Corazon Aquino signed Executive Order (EO) 264 providing for the “Citizen Armed Force” and creating in the process the Cafgu.
What was invoked as justification for the formation of the Cafgu was the provision in the 1987 Constitution calling for the formation of a “citizen armed force” (Article 16, Section 4), which shall undergo military training and serve as may be provided by law.
EO 264 provided that all able-bodied citizens shall become reservists with appropriate ranks. All reservists in a particular locality shall be organized into reserve geographical units subject to call and mobilization as the need arises, individually or as a unit.
Magbalot thanked the public for continuously giving the Army information about the rebels.
Just this Dec. 9, 61IB troops repelled rebels from the hinterland barangays of Barangay Trangka, Maasin, Iloilo and Barangay Canawillian, Janiuay, Iloilo.
Department of National Defense (DND) secretary Delfin Lorenzana is not recommending a suspension of military operation (SOMO) against the rebel groups this Yuletide season.
“We shall not allow the CPP to use a SOMO to celebrate their 50th anniversary,” he said in Metro Manila.
Lorenzana’s views were echoed by Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson, Brigadier General Edgard Arevalo. Firming up the decision is the fact that the rebels have not shown any sincerity in the previous years, he said.
“They continue with their terroristic and criminal activists, extortion, harassments, etc. and we do not want to give them the opportunity to gather and mass up to joyfully celebrate their 50th anniversary,” Arevalo stressed./PN
