Government forces ready to foil communist attacks--PNP (tags)
Government forces are ready to thwart communist attacks, officials said following threats of more rebel offensives in response to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s “outright threat to use state terror.” Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Oscar Calderon on Thursday said he has ordered intensified security operations to stop the New People’s Army from staging deadly attacks on soldiers and policemen and destroying infrastructures like telecommunication towers.
Another Peasant Leader killed in Sorsogon (tags)
Another militant peasant leader leader in Sorsogon was shot dead by a lone assailant in front of his house in Barangay San Juan yesterday, police reported. said Senior Superintendent Formoso Argarin, the city’s police chief. Willy Jerus, 35, president of the Samahan ng mga Magsasaka sa Sorsogon (Samasor), came under a barrage of fire from a .45 caliber pistol as he stepped out of his house at around 7:20 a.m.,Argarin said nine slugs were found at the scene but only five hit Jerus, who was the fifth official of a militant organization killed in the province amid the continued escalation of unsolved killings in the country.
MILF fighter killed in Taytay raid (tags)
A suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebel was killed in a shootout with Marines and police on an island in Laguna de Bay near Metro Manila yesterday. Following the pre-dawn raid, government forces also captured three other suspected MILF fighters in a hideout in Barangay Sta. Ana in Taytay, Rizal near the cities of Pasig and Taguig in Metro Manila. Meanwhile, MILF spokesman, Eid Kabalu, said Mohammad and Sanjali Utto are bandits, not members of the secessionist group. "They are not MILF," he said. "Police are linking them to our organization. We have no members active in Rizal." Kabalu said the police action of linking the captured suspects with the MILF could further delay the resumption of peace talks with the government. "It appears there are certain sectors out to sabotage the talks," he said.
MILF: Raps vs Murad imperil peace talks (tags)
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) protested yesterday the inclusion of its chieftain, Al Haj Murad, in a criminal complaint filed in connection with the recent bomb attack in Makilala, North Cotabato, warning it could endanger the already stalled peace talks. Police filed a murder complaint the other day against Murad and several suspected MILF commanders with the Kidapawan City prosecutor’s office for allegedly plotting the Oct. 10 bombing that killed six people and wounded 29 in Makilala town, government prosecutor Al Calica said.
2 activists, 1 media man killed in 3 hours (tags)
THE latest wave of activist and media killings on Monday hit three regions, including Metro Manila, within a span of three hours, claiming three lives. The first killing happened about 6 a.m. at a bus terminal in Zone 2, Bulan town in Sorsogon, where Rei Mon Guran, a 21-year-old 2nd-year political science student was gunned down. Guran was the local spokesman for the League of Filipino Students and a student of Aquinas University of Legazpi City. In the Cordillera region, the Bayanmuna Kalinga chapter chairman, Dr. Constancio Claver, and his wife Alice Claver, a coordinator for the same group, were ambushed about 7 a.m. Monday by heavily armed men in a black Delica van. The attack killed Claver’s wife, who died while undergoing treatment at the Kalinga Provincial Hospital. She suffered bullet wounds in the head and neck. In Metro Manila Tanod tabloid photojournalist Vic Melendres was gunned down about 8:45 a.m. near his home inside the Gozun Compound in Letre, Malabon, while on his way to work.
‘Amnesty’ to GMA: Stop leftist killings (tags)
Amnesty International has called on President Arroyo to do more to stop a spate of killings targeting leftist activists. Mrs. Arroyo must "show she means business by implementing concrete measures to prevent the deaths of more activists," Amnesty deputy director for Asia-Pacific Tim Parritt said in a statement issued in Manila yesterday. Among other things, the President should "strengthen implementation of witness protection laws," Parritt said.
New AFP Chief Esperon vows to crush insurgency (tags)
New Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon vowed yesterday to crush the 37-year-old communist insurgency during his watch, saying he would devote his last years as a soldier to finish the task. "The President has renewed her call for the defeat of the insurgents ... I welcome the challenge," Esperon said in a speech as he formally took the helm of the 117,000-strong AFP.
PPNP, AFP, agencies to meet on counterinsurgency (tags)
Pesante-USA/AJLPP reported this news about the Philippine National Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and other government agencies will be meeting to coordinate their efforts to combat the communist insurgency, newly installed PNP Director General Oscar Calderon said Thursday. Calderon said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, at a meeting, instructed the PNP and AFP to create a joint plan to combat communist rebels.