DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 12, 2013) – Philippine troops raided an explosives factory of the communist rebel group New People’s Army and recovered over 160 landmines in Agusan del Sur’s Loreto town, officials said.
Officials said troops were guided by intelligence provided by civilians in the town that led to the seizure of the explosives in the village of Kauswagan.
Soldiers also recovered a generator set used by rebels in the manufacture of explosives, according to Army Captain Alberto Caber, chief information officer of the Eastern Mindanao Command.
Caber said the factory was empty when troops arrived. Caber also quoted a villager as saying that “We do not want the NPA here because they only bring us sufferings. We want a peace in our village.”
Military records made available to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner showed that more than over 120 people were killed and 325 wounded from hundreds of landmine explosions set off by the NPA in the region, a known stronghold of the rebel group.
General Ricardo Rainier Cruz III, who heads the Eastern Mindanao Command, said the unabated use of landmines by the NPA is a gross violation of the provisions of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian law which the rebel group was a signatory.
Cruz praised troops and the villagers for the capture of the factory.
“This is the biggest NPA landmine factory discovered so far. Indeed, the timely recovery of NPA landmines by our troops saved lives of innocent civilians,” he said.
Cruz accused the rebels of continuously putting the lives of innocent people in grave danger by deploying landmines in areas frequented by civilians.
There was no immediate statement from the NPA, armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has been fighting for decades to overthrow the democratic government and install a Maoist state in the largely Catholic country. (Mindanao Examiner)
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