PESANTE NEWS

January 21, 2010

More Army troops deployed to W. Visayas to crush Reds

Los Angeles-- PESANTE NEWS learned today from media sources from Cebu City that the Army has deployed more troops in Western Visayas, just months before the June 2010 deadline set by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to strategically defeat the communist-led insurgency.

The Army's 3rd Infantry Division (3ID) based in Jamindan town, Capiz on Monday formally deployed 190 soldiers to units on the islands of Negros, Panay and parts of Mindanao, 3ID public information officer 1st Lt. Mark Andrew Posadas said in a statement.

Posadas said the 190 soldiers with the rank of Private had completed their training on Dec. 17 last year.

He said that of the 190 new soldiers, 79 would be assigned to the units on Negros Island, 46 on Panay Island and five would be deployed to the Army's 15th Infantry Battalion currently assigned in Mindanao.

The remaining 60 soldiers will be stationed at the 3ID headquarters at Camp Macario Peralta in Capiz to form part of the new Division Reconnaissance Company that will be organized to become a rapid deployment force covering Western Visayas.

Last year, the 3ID recruited and trained 286 soldiers to be deployed to various units in Western Visayas, according to Posadas.

Another 300 recruits are undergoing basic training, which will be completed by April this year.

Culture of Impunity

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing the New People's Army (NPA) based in Panay early this month declared that they have frustrated the military's efforts to reduce rebel strength and claimed to have inflicted more casualties on government troops in 2009.

PESANTE-USA condemns the heightened militarization in the Philippines in the light of the coming presidential elections in May 2010. Former secretary of defense Gilberto Teodoro is running under the LAKAS-KAMPI Party of President GMA.

More than 1,200 activist had been killed by GMA 'death squads" from 2001 to the present. The most famous violation of human rights is the Maguindanao mAssacre in November 22, 2009 where 32 media men were killed and a total of 59 persons were massacred.