THE Philippine government has been vindicated once more in its position that a ‘volunteer-teacher’ arrested last year in Cebu province for the trafficking of indigenous peoples in Mindanao is not innocent as he made himself out to be but is actually a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
MGen. Nolasco Mempin, 10th Infantry ‘Agila’ Division commander, in a report to Eastern Mindanao (Eastmincom) area commanding general, Lt. General Greg T. Almerol, said that early morning of February 24, 2022, elements from the 1001st ‘Pag-Asa’ Brigade, engaged the remnants of the NPA’s Regional Headquarter, Southern Mindanao Regional Party Committee (SMRPC) of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in Barangay Andap, New Bataan, Davao de Oro (formerly Compostela Valley) that resulted to the death of 5 terrorists , among them, Chad Ramirez Booc.
It can be recalled that Booc, then 27 years old and an honor student with a degree in computer science at the University of the Philippines Diliman campus (UP-Diliman), was among those arrested inside the rectory of the San Carlos University campus in Talamban, Cebu, after a rescue operation by the police last February 15, 2021 and charged with human trafficking.
The operation was conducted after parents of 19 indigenous youths from the Ata Manobo tribe in Talaingod, Davao del Norte, sought government help for the return of their children who have been forcibly taken by CPP front leaders to Cebu without parental consent, purportedly to continue with their “studies” thru the illegal ‘Salugpungan schools’ created by the CPP in Mindanao but finally ordered close by the government in October 2019 (see also Pinoy Exposé, Volume 2, Issue No. 7).
CPP front officials headed by Bayan Muna Rep. Eufemia Cullamat, then brought the IP youths to the San Carlos University in Cebu so they can also be used to solicit monetary support from gullible donors abroad. Incidentally, Cullamat, also an Ata Manobo, had been disowned by her own tribe (see also Pinoy Exposé, Volume 2, Issue No. 6) while her own daughter, Jevilyn, was killed as an NPA fighter during an encounter with the military last November 28, 2020 in Marihatag, Surigao del Sur (see also Pinoy Exposé, Volume 1, Issue No. 28).
The propaganda and legal campaign waged by the CPP’s front organizations and their allies in and out of Congress subsequently resulted to the release by Booc and 6 others who were arrested with him.
At the time of his arrest, Booc had feigned innocence about his links to the CPP-NPA, insisting that he was just a volunteer-teacher for the Salugpungan schools trying to raise the literacy of IP youths, in his capacity as a member of the ‘Save Our Schools’ (SOS) network, which is being supported by the family of 1-Pacman partylist representative and House Deputy Speaker Michael ‘Mikee’ Romero (see also Pinoy Exposé, Volume 2, Issue No. 7).
Booc’s death in the company of other CPP-NPA terrorists in Davao de Oro has now been proven to be another CPP lie.
Capt. Mark Anthony Tito, Agila Division chief of public affairs, said that aside from Booc, also killed were, Jojarain Alce Nguho II alias Rain, a certain alias Daday and two still unidentified males, during the firefight that lasted for some 15 minutes.
Recovered from the encounter site are one M653 rifle, one .45 pistol, one hand grenade, one anti-personnel mine, assorted food supplies and personal belongings.
Bloodstains from the encounter site indicate that more of the terrorists were either wounded or killed, added Tito.
Like the thousands of Filipino youths and students before him who were duped by the CPP to join its “armed revolution,” Booc was simply left behind his comrades who scampered in different directions to save their own skin.
The military has been conducting a relentless focus military operation in Davao de Oro and nearby areas aimed at completely dismantling the remnants of the SMRPC, the only remaining major CPP-NPA organized force in Eastern Mindanao and the rest of the country.
This year alone, the 1001st Brigade had recorded 6 major skirmishes with the NPA, with the encounter last January 5, 2022, in the municipality of Mabini, Davao de Oro, resulting to the death of Menandro ‘Bok’ Villanueva.
Villanueva was the highest CPP-NPA official in Mindanao and national commander of the NPA’s Operational Command in his capacity as a member of the party’s central committee and secretary of ‘KomMid’ (Komisyon Mindanao), the CPP’s highest organizational body in charge of all terrorist operations in the island.
Villanueva has previously turned his post as secretary of SMRPC to Eric ‘Jun’ Casilao, who is now the only remaining highest CPP official inside KomMid after the death of Villanueva and Pedro ‘Gonyong’ Codaste last January 21, 2022, in a separate encounter with the military in Bukidnon. Codaste was supposed to succeed Villanueva at the time of his death (see also Pinoy Exposé, Volume 3, Issue No. 5).
The February 24 clash in New Bataan is focused on the neutralization of Casilao, who carries a P5.4 million reward for his arrest, dead or alive (see also Pinoy Exposé, Volume 3, Issue No. 3).
The neutralization of Casilao and the dissolution of the SMRPC is being seen as finally creating the right atmosphere for the establishment of lasting peace and economic development in most of Mindanao.