NPA flushed out of Ogbok lair?

By CHITO DELA TORRE
April 14, 2008

An unconfirmed report reaching this column said that 2 New People’s Army members were killed in a 3-hour firefight that occurred in the hinterland sitio of Ogbok in Villa Aurora, Basey, Samar, Wednesday morning.  To some public officials, the news is welcome as it meant the beginning of the end of the insurgency problem in the once-NPA-beleaguered town which is home to a thousand-and-one wonderful natural attractions.

The government troopers, according to a civilian account, had earlier spotted the presence of the armed rebels whom the 62nd Infantry Battalion commander, Lt. Col. Jonathan G. Ponce, believes to be remnants of the NPA groups operating in the Calbiga-to-Marabut area of Samar which had been splintered and deteriorating in strength following the incessant civilian-backed-up military operations initiated by Lt. Col. Ponce since his assignment to Samar that began on November 3, 2006.

The rebels were believed to have gone to their hideouts in certain interior zones of Basey.  They could have been subjugated last March if not for “humanitarian reasons”.  Operationally, however, Basey was already cleared about 90% as of December, 2007.  It is believed by some quarters that Lt. Col. Ponce would not let the rebels – some commanders of whom have been identified to be residents of three barrios of Basey – lawlessly free beyond April 15 this year unless they earlier surrender to him, to rejoin the free democratic Philippine society.

The rebels scampered away in frantic panic to save their own souls from the valiant Unifiers – the name carried by the soldiers belonging to the 62IB, true to their mission of unifying people of all creed under one government.

It was reported earlier this week that Ponce welcomes the proposal in a pending House bill to have any surrendering NPA member enlisted and regularly paid as member of the Philippine Army.

Some civilian opinion makers say the proposal may not be at all good if the government could not be sure if the integrees among the NPA surrenderees will only be like the monsters that came out of the Moro National Liberation Front integrees into the Army.  Yet, they believe, the proposition is better for now, as it would open employment to many NPA members who have been forced to join the NPA due to hardship caused by the absence of a long-term-paying job in government.  Ponce believes that making the NPA surrenderees work in the government, as soldiers ready to die for the country against all enemies of the Philippine State, will socially and economically solve the rebel problem.  I agree absolutely.

A captured top-ranked NPA commander in Samar recently disclosed that he was among those who were deceived to join the NPA because of an offer of handsome compensation and available food and clothing for their families.  This was not true, he was said to have revealed a few hours after his capture by the 62IB.

Ogbok was a preferred lair of many NPA commanders for many years.  On top of its mountain is a little valley where sweet clear water satisfies one’s thirst.  Villagers from nearby barrio Cancaiyas – home of Elizabeth Gutierrez, an NPA amazon whom the NPA forcibly dragged away from her campaign to victory in the last election for punong barangay and who had not been heard of since then after National Democratic Front spokesperson Sanny Salas was reported in the NPA website to have said that she was meted out death by the NPA – had taken initial efforts to tap the Ogbok water source for their own drinking water needs.  Cancaiyas needed only about P50,000 for the installation of a 1.5-kilometer pipeline from a small impounding dam to be constructed at the base of the mountain in Ogbok.  The amount the barrio needed was not forthcoming due to technical maneuvers somewhere.

 + + + + + + + +

 The Samar Provincial Agrarian Reform Coordinating Committee may wish to take up once again during its April 18 meeting at Waling-Waling in Catbalogan City the needs for the development of the Basey – side of the Samar Settlement Project (christened as the Samar resettlement area by Proclamation 2292 of President Ferdinand E. Marcos in 1983), as well as the irrigation project for some 3,000 rice lands in the same town.  Mayor Wilfredo Estorninos is very much ready to present the official position of the local government unit of Basey during this meeting, in case he will be invited.  Mayor Estorninos had repeatedly been knocking on the doors of several government agencies in the past, and during his present regained administration, so that enough and responsive attention could be given to Basey.  He is looking forward to a sincere and genuine response this time, especially now that the government is campaigning for a massive food production nationwide.