THE military manhunt operation against a band of communist rebels entered its second day on Tuesday in Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat, following the ambush of the Marines on Monday at a remote village in the area.
The ambush staged by the New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas resulted in the death of a Marine and wounding of eight other Marines.
“The military pursuit operation, led by the Marines, is still going on,” said Capt. Arvin John Encinas, Army Sixth Infantry “Kampilan” Division spokesman.
He said the Marines were on security patrol in the vicinity of Sitio Tinagdanan, Barangay Hinalaan, Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat, when an undetermined number of NPA rebels opened fire, triggering a daylong running gun battle starting Monday morning.
Encinas said the name of the fatality was withheld pending notification of his next of kin.
Information that reached the First Marine Brigade based in nearby Lebak, Sultan Kudarat, indicated that the NPA guerrillas were from the adjacent towns of Sen. Ninoy Aquino and Palimbang, also in Sultan Kudarat.
A source said six communist rebels were killed when the Marines subjected Barangay Hinalaan to artillery fire.
“There are no NPA members in Kalamansig, they come from nearby communities and influenced our people, especially the indigenous peoples,” Kalamansig Mayor Ronan Eugene Garcia said.
He condemned the presence of NPA rebels in his town and their efforts to influence the tribesmen to rebel against the government.
“Theirs [communists] is a lost cause; it is oppression to terrorize people into rebeling against the government,” Garcia said.
“As father of the municipality of Kalamansig, I strongly condemn the disruption of normal and peaceful coexistence of all Kalamansigueños committed by the rebels,” he said.
Garcia urged townmates “to resist any attempt to be influenced by a lost cause”.
He also urged authorities not to allow the recent act of violence by the rebels go unpunished.
Meanwhile, government and Communist Party of the Philippine (CPP)-NPA-National Democratic Front (NDF) negotiators will meet in the Netherlands from April 2 to 6 for the fourth round of formal peace negotiations.
The Norwegian Embassy in Manila said the talks will be held in the town of Noordwijk.
Norway has been the third-party facilitator of the peace negotiations between the government and the CPP-NPA-NDF, which has been waging a 49-year-old insurgeny, since 2001.
The decision to resume the talks, which President Duterte terminated following the lifting of both parties’ respective unilateral cease-fires in early February, was arrived at during informal talks in Utrecht, the Netherlands, earlier this month.
“I am pleased that representatives of the Philippine government and the NDF will meet for a new round of talks. Despite challenges along the way, the parties continue to show their commitment to peace. Norway will continue to assist the parties as the third-party facilitator of the peace process,” Norwegian Ambassador to the Philippines Erik Førner said in a statement.
With PNA