Panay rebels warn of more attacks; Army downplays threat
Communist rebels on Panay Island said they expanded their forces three-folds since 2001 as it vowed to intensify attacks against government troops.
In a statement marking the 40th year founding anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on December 26, the party's regional committee said it is strengthening its capacity to launch more offensives and frustrate attacks by government troops.
Rebel leader Concha Araneta said in the statement that rebel forces on the island have successfully contributed CPP's nationwide struggle against the government.
"It has frustrated the unrelenting enemy attacks thereby tying down significant enemy armed strength especially in the Visayas. It contributed to the downfall of various oppressive regimes," said Araneta in an e-mailed statement.
The military downplayed the rebel statement.
"What they're saying is the opposite of what's happening," said Lt. Col. David Tan, public information officer of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division (3ID). The 3ID covers the islands of Panay, Negros, Bohol and Cebu.
Tan said in a telephone interview that sustained military operations have forced the rebels to "resort to attacks against soft targets like cell sites because they could not hit military targets."
He said they are ready for any rebel attacks in the coming year.
Araneta claimed that the CPP's membership expanded three-folds from 2001 to this year or from hundreds to thousands.
She said the CPP's armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA) has successfully launched offensives against various targets on the island.
"(The NPA) has sustained its tactical offensives not only within its guerrilla fronts but all over the island, even in places that the enemy has declared as 'under-control.' It has continued to develop its capacity to wipe out squads and even platoons of enemy troops, raid and disarm municipal police stations, punish military and para-military officers for anti-people blood debts, and inflict punishment on profiteers and hoarders and big landlords who refuse to follow the policies of the revolutionary people's government," said Araneta.
During the seven-year period, Araneta said the NPA launched 65 tactical offensives of various forms and intensities and killed 39 military and paramilitary troops with 30 others wounded. She said they were also able to capture 46 firearms of various calibers from these attacks.
Five NPA rebels died and two others were wounded during the period, according to Araneta. But she said "no single unit of the NPA was ever annihilated."
The rebel leader said CPP and NPA are in the process of completing the few remaining unfinished requirements in establishing two to three company-size guerrilla fronts in Panay. A company in the military is composed from 60 t0 90 soldiers.
"In a short while, every company-size front would comprise several platoons, a district-size territory of three to several towns, hundreds of mass activists and thousands of organized people," said Araneta.