ON PATROL. Soldiers of the Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion cross a river toward an area where they found communist New People’s Army (NPA) guerillas’ improvised bomb components (inset) buried in the hinterlands of Sen. Ninoy Aquino, Sultan Kudarat on Saturday (Aug. 8, 2020). Sources from the military intelligence community indicated that the NPAs are operating in the mountainous peripheries of Ninoy Aquino, Palimbang, and Lebak towns in the province. (Photo courtesy of 7IB)
CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao – Government forces conducting security patrol in the hinterlands of Sultan Kudarat province found improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in a suspected communist New People’s Army (NPA) lair on Saturday.
Lt. Col. Rommel Valencia, commander of the Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion, said elements of the Bravo Company responded to a report by a concerned citizen about the presence of IEDs kept in a grassy area of upland Barangay Kiadsam, Sen. Ninoy Aquino, Sultan Kudarat.
“The clearing operations resulted in the recovery of four IEDs, anti-personnel explosives and components,” Valencia said in his report to the Army’s 6th Infantry Division here.
Valencia has acknowledged the help of the villagers in helping the government beat insurgency in their area.
“This is a major advantage for the government's approach to fighting terrorism through EO 70 or the ELCAC (Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict) through the whole-of-nation approach,” Valencia said.
The NPA in Sultan Kudarat operates in the mountains of Ninoy Aquino, Palimbang and Lebak towns.
The NPA, together with the Communist Party of the Philippines, is listed as a terrorist organization by the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines. (PNA)
