Pursuit vs. communist rebels will continue despite Sulu, Basilan operations

By Ronron
August 12, 2007

The Philippine Army assured on Sunday that operations against the communist New People’s Army (NPA) will continue despite the pouring in of additional troops to Basilan and Sulu for the intensified offensives against Moslem rebels in the south.

In a radio interview, Army spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres, Jr. said the internal security operations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), which is geared against the communist threat, will still be in place even if President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the commander-in-chief of the military, has ordered last Saturday for the temporary transfer of the Army headquarters in Zamboanga City.

“We still have a lot of the threats nationwide that we are also addressing, especially against the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines) – NPA and other lawless groups. So we still have troops spread all over the Philippines addressing all of these threats,” Torres said.

On Friday, the AFP leadership said it is sending two additional Army battalions to Sulu following the series of fighting in the island province since last Tuesday, claiming almost 60 lives of soldiers, Moslem rebels, and a civilian nine-year-old boy.

Torres said that a part of the 15th Infantry Battalion (IB) from the Visayas already arrived Saturday in Sulu, while the Army 48th IB from Luzon has yet to follow. They will augment the already stationed two Army and four Marine battalions in the island.

Torres said the repositioning of the two Army battalions is intended to sustain the operations in Sulu, especially that the troops already know the location of the main body of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and renegade members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) following the series of fighting last week.

“We have to sustain this operation because we already initiated contact with these terrorists. We know how elusive they are, it’s just like we are fighting a faceless enemy because out of these enemies, we only know the faces of their senior leaders. But their men in ranks are faceless to us. So they easily blend with the populace, with the community,” Torres said.

The AFP estimates the current ASG force to be no more than 400, and they are allegedly under the command of Radulan Sahiron, Dr. Abu (real name is Gambali Jumdail), and Albader Parad. Aside from rouge MNLF members, seeking refuge with the ASG are alleged Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) members, led by Dulmatin and Omar Patek.

“We are hoping, we are doing our best that we can already put an end to this Abu Sayyaf Group,” Torres said yesterday.

With Arroyo’s order, the top leadership of the Defense department and the AFP flew to Sulu and Basilan Sunday to meet with local commanders and officials.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. and AFP chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. led some military officials in a visit to the 104th Army Brigade in Sulu, the 1st Marine Brigade in Basilan, and then to the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) in Zamboanga City.

While the troops in Sulu are running after the ASG and rouge MNLF members, those in Basilan are conducting punitive police action against those responsible for the death of 14 Marine soldiers during the July 10 incident in Al-Barka town, 10 of whom were beheaded.

Torres explained that Arroyo’s order does not necessarily mean that the Philippine Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio will be moved to the Westmincom’s headquarters in Zamboanga City, and that Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino will permanently be based there.

He said the Army instead will just be putting up personnel and a satellite office there so it would be easier and quicker for Tolentino, as Army chief, to provide support to the operating units in the field.

“The direct impact of the Army commanding general’s going there is we can immediately provide the support to the operating troops… in terms of personnel, logistics or anything… And at the same time, because the Army commanding general operated in the area for a long time from the time he was a junior officer until he became a brigade commander, then we can use his experience, knowledge and assets for us to resolve the soonest possible time the problem of the bandits and terrorists,” Torres said.

As of Sunday, there are still no reported armed confrontations in Basilan and Sulu since Thursday’s intense firefight at the latter’s Maimbung town.

Esperon told reporters in Sulu that there are ongoing discussions to gather the entire MILF members and fighters to one place so as to hasten the ongoing punitive police actions against 127 persons who have arrest warrants for the murder and multiple murder of Marine soldiers last July 10.

“There are ongoing talks about that, to the put the MILF in one place (in Al-Barka). That is being worked out with the MILF and they are willing to do that,” he said.

The MILF has owned up the attack against the Marine troopers last July 10 for allegedly encroaching in to their territory without prior coordination, but it has denied beheading the soldiers.

An investigation of the government and the MILF ceasefire committee has identified four ASG bandits as allegedly responsible for the beheadings.

The AFP had said that the Marine troopers were just passing through what the MILF claims as their territory after searching for abducted Italian Catholic priest Fr. Gian Carlo Bossi. Bossi was snatched last June 10 in Payao, Zamboanga Sibugay, and released on July 19 at Lanao del Norte./DMS