By Manny Pinol
At about the same time, members of the 72nd and 73rd Fronts of the New People’s Army ambushed and killed 9 soldiers in Tulunan, North Cotabato, another group of communist cadres yesterday raided an Oil Palm Plantation in Gambudes, Arakan, North Cotabato, seized firearms of the security guards and publicly executed the chief guard.
Village officials of Gambudes led by Barangay Chairman Alejandro Canete said the NPAs arrived in the village at dawn yesterday and proceeded to the 300-hectare Oil Palm Plantation owned by a certain Councilor Amatac of Matalam, North Cotabato.
Amatac vied for the mayorship of Matalam town last elections but lost to incumbent Mayor Oscar Valdevieso.
The rebels immediately overpowered the plantation’s guards led by a former army sergeant Glenn Arreola, reportedly a member of the Military Intelligence Group of the Armed Forces.
The rebels seized at least 10 high-powered firearms and then brought the captured guards to the village center where Arreola was publicly executed.
Unlike the Tulunan attack on army soldiers which was denounced by local residents, the Gambudes raid apparently occurred because of appeals from the local residents who have been terrorized by Arreola’s group.
About two months ago, men believed to be under Arreola shot and killed a Tribal Leader, Henry Bunsuran, whose family lays claim to most of the over 1,000 hectare-area being claimed by Toril, Davao City businessman Adolfo Yanong.
Yanong used to be a grantee of the Integrated Forest Management Agreement (IFMA) and was also accused of terrorizing people in the area to force them to leave the village.
Yanong’s IFMA, however, was cancelled when I became Governor in 1998 and I led back the people of Gambudes back to their village in a program called “Oplan Balik Gambudes.”
When I left office in 2010, Yanong apparently entered into a partnership with Amatac and reoccupied the area by planting Oil Palm now estimated to be about 300 hectares.
Armed goons who were later issued MIG IDs were fielded in the area. The goons started harassing residents of the area while Arreola reportedly joined the contest for the village chairmanship.
Canete earlier reported the harassment committed by Arreola and his group, whose armed goons occupied even the barangay hall but this was apparently ignored by local authorities.
“Amon ang mayor, amon ang Governor,” Arreola and his goons reportedly bragged as they threatened local villagers by displaying their firearms and grenades, apparently to scare them away so that Yanong and Amatac could fully occupy the area.
Last week, another villager was killed in an ambush within the area, which apparently was the last straw for the village officials who sought the NPAs help.
Front 53 of the NPA has not yet issued an official statement owning up to the raid but local villagers said they are certain that the armed group belonged to the Front.
(Photo caption: This NPA file photo downloaded from the NPA Facebook Page shows communist rebels in training.)
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