LUCENA CITY, Quezon, Philippines – Top official of the military’s Southern Luzon Command based here in Camp Nakar did not discount the possibility that Army troopers committed tactical mistakes when they ran into a fortified camp of New People’s Army rebels in Oriental Mindoro that resulted in the deaths of 11 soldiers Saturday morning.
“If our troops committed some tactical blunders, we are also investigating so that we could pinpoint responsibilities and prevent more blunders in the future,” Lieutenant General Roland Detabali, said in a phone interview Sunday.
He said the loss of lives in Oriental Mindoro would only strengthen the resolve of the government to win the war against the communist insurgency.
“Rest assure that we will strive harder, double our efforts and sacrifice if need be to do what we are mandated to do (to defeat the enemy),” Detabali said.
The military said the soldiers were conducting “clearing operations” through security patrols in preparation for the upcoming campaign period for local government officials on March 26 when the ambush happened.
According to Detabali, the rebels who staged the attack were reinforced by communist guerillas from nearby Romblon Island.
“I believed all NPAs from Romblon retreated to Mindoro to reinforce the Island, particularly when the STPRC (Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines) was located there during the capture of Buan (Army Major Noel Buan),” the Solcom official said.
Buan, an Army intelligence officer, was held as a “prisoner of war” by communist guerillas in Mindoro for 22 months. He was released to the humanitarian and peace mission led by Senator Loren Legarda in April 2001 in a remote village in Mansalay town.
Detabali said the withdrawal of the Army’s 68th Infantry Battalion from Mindoro and its eventual deployment to Mindanao to join the battle against the Moro Islamic Liberation Forces two years ago also affected the momentum of the government state security forces against the communist insurgents.
“We were then at the height of our clearing operations in Mindoro and were fast gaining ground,” he said.
Detabali maintained that Mindoro Island which consists of two provinces, Oriental and Occidental, was a big area for only two Army Infantry Battalions.
“Now, we have redeployed one company from Quezon province to Mindoro but we’re still hoping that the 68th IB would be returned to Mindoro to fast track our efforts. We have already discovered arms cache of the NPA rebels in Mindoro,” he said.
