Farmers point location of anti-personnel mine in
AgSur
By 1Lt. Krisjuper Andreo Punsalan
BAYUGAN CITY, Agusan del Sur, Nov.
27 -- Concerned civilians, mostly farmers have reported recently to the 8th
Special Forces “Dragoons” Company (8SFC) and 3rd Special Forces “Arrowhead”
Battalion (3SFBn), a claymore-type improvised explosive device (IED) emplaced
by the Communist New People’s Army (NPA) Terrorists (CNTs) in their farmlands
in Purok-7, barangay Mabuhay, Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur.
The Mabuhay Citizen Armed Force
Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) Patrol Base under the 8SFC immediately composed
a team to disable, recover and dispose the IED to prevent any damages from both
the civilians and government troops.
The Municipality of Prosperidad,
Mabuhay Barangay Local Government Unit (BLGU), Armed Forces of the Philippines
(AFP) and the farmers strongly condemned the terroristic act of the CNTs citing
that they (NPAs) are the reason why there is a decrease of farm production in
some of their areas.
“The NPAs are the reason why most
of the farmers don’t attend to their farmlands anymore. We are worried because
we might become victims if the IEDs explode anytime. The NPA terrorists
severely disturb our farming activities because aside from planting IEDs they
always ask for their share during harvests even if they did not work hard for
it. The farmers get less than what they deserve,” said alias “Jun.” (true name
undisclosed)
The NPA terrorists and the
Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) are declared by the Philippine
government as terrorist organizations in 2017 and declared by the U.S. State
Department, European Union Common Foreign and Security Policy as a foreign
terrorist group.
Meanwhile, the 3SFBn under the
401st Infantry “Unite and Fight” Brigade (401BDE) lauded the efforts of the
citizens who acted promptly to prevent further damage to any potential targets
of opportunities of the CNTs.
Col. Allan Hambala, commander of
401st Brigade said that this is the positive effect of the whole-of-nation
approach to end local communist armed conflict.
“The peoples’ support greatly
hurts these terrorists because they have nowhere to run. This is the reason why
they try so hard to discredit the Executive Order 70, military’s presence and
the construction of Patrol Bases in the conflict-affected communities. The
masses, whom they can terrorize before, already found their genuine ally
towards ending the NPAs’ atrocities through the Task Forces to end communist
insurgency,” he said. (CMO officer, 3SFBn/PIA-Agusan del Sur)
