Soldiers seize big NPA camp in Agusan del Norte

Saturday, 17 March 2012
BUTUAN City-Government troops captured one of the biggest New People's Army bases in Caraga after more than a month of intensive military operations, officials said yesterday. Authorities said the seized NPA camp is located in upLand Sitio Kamalig, Barangay Puting Bato in Cabadbaran, Agusan del Norte. Soldiers reportedly took it last March 13. Officials said the approximately 12-hectare camp served as an alternative base of the NPA's Front 16 under the North Eastern Mindanao Regional Command.


INTENSIFY. Police and Army soldiers stop a public bus for inspection at a checkpoint in Kitcharao, Agusan del Norte, where the Armed Forces stepped up operations against the New People’s Army (NPA). Last weekend, an Air Force chopper with supplies crash Landed in the town. PHOTO BY ERWIN MASCARINAS
Col. Ronald Albano, commander of the army's 402 Infantry Brigade based in Bancasi, "It was only after our men secured it did we realize how large the rebel camp was." Albano said the camp had 126 bunkers, six kitchens, and 30 outposts and foxholes along the perimeter. He said the facilities could serve at least 500 people. Albano said the NPA camp yielded a power generator set, a good supply of gasoline, 100 meters of electrical wires, two huge containers and a dozen sacks of improvised explosive devices materials and glue. Albano said soldiers raided the NPA camp after clashing with rebels twice in Sitio Lusong last March 8 and March 10. At least three soldiers were wounded as a result of the clashes, he said.

Last March 8, government and rebel forces exchanged firepower. The military subsequently sent G520 helicopters to bombard the rebel position. Albano said the military stepped up its operations following the rebel attack against mining companies in Claver, Surigao del Norte, last October.

"We really need to protect the economic activity here in Caraga especially in Surigao del Norte and Agusan del Norte. The attack on the mining firms last year resulted in billions of pesos of losses. The main effort of our brigade now is to run after these rebels," Albano said. A soldier said it took them at least one week of walking to reach the NPA camp. "The terrain and vegetation in the area gave us a hard time, and we faced the threat of being attacked, making it more difficult for us to get there," he said.
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