HACIENDA LUISITA — Protesting laborers and farm workers here, joined by their respective families and reinforced by militant activists, have practically taken control over nearly all movements in this sprawling sugar estate owned by the family of former President Corazon Aquino.
Full story...
Luisita resumes milling operations as tension eases
HACIENDA LUISITA — Tension has somewhat eased in this 6,000-hectare sugar plantation, as the ranks of the protesters who locked up the refinery during the weekend have thinned out, allowing the Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT) to resume its milling operations noontime Monday.
Full story...
Truck attacks force Luisita mill closure anew
HACIENDA LUISITA — The “violent and destructive” actions being carried out by alleged “troublemakers” among the ranks of protesters here has forced Luzon’s biggest sugar mill to shutdown anew its operations Tuesday morning, after these were briefly resumed around noontime last Monday.
Full story...
7-month long Rabbit strike ends
TARLAC CITY — The almost seven-month long strike in one of the country’s oldest transport company finally came to an end, as the Philippine Rabbit Bus Lines (PRBL) commenced plying major routes from Metro Manila to Central and Northern Luzon again.
Subic allows FedEx to operate ecozone hub until 2013
TARLAC CITY — The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has recently decided to extend the lease contract of air courier giant, the Federal Express (FedEx), up to August 2010.
Int’l media watchdog: RP hostile for journalists
TARLAC CITY — Although the country has a “free and lively press,” the Philippines has been counted by the Paris-based international media watchdog as one of the places most hostile to journalists.
Countdown for 2005
Trivia
Want to know if you're lucky today?
View our Horoscope....
Click Here!!!
Have a Dream last night?
want to know what does it mean?
Click Here!!!
Send us your comments and suggestions... E-mail us!!
The Tarlac Headlines News Central displays all the news of our latest issues.
October 1 - 31, 2004
Nolcom: 7 rebels slain in Pura clashes
PURA — The military has claimed Wednesday that at least seven Maoist guerillas were slain in sporadic fighting here between combined Army soldiers and policemen, and more than 50 New People’s Army (NPA) rebels that commenced late last Monday.
However, troops were not able to recover the bodies of the alleged slain rebels, as Lt. Col. Ricardo Visaya, commander of the Army’s 69th Infantry Battalion, claimed that “civilian witnesses” saw these being dragged by their fleeing comrades.
It was around 3:30 p.m. last Monday when soldiers from the 69th IB engaged the large group of NPA rebels in the sugarcane fields of Sitio Umangan in Barangay Balite after the troops were tipped off by some villagers about the presence in their community of heavily-armed men.
The initial fighting then lasted for more than three hours, even as the 69th IB was reinforced by troops from the Army’s 703rd Infantry Brigade, as well as lawmen trained for counterinsurgency operations from Tarlac’s 312nd and 313rd police mobile groups (PMGs).
Intermittent gunfights further took place in the village on the following day as the rebels tried to break through the encirclement thrown by the Army on the insurgents’ position. A UH-IH Heuy helicopter of the Philippine Air Force (PAF), which provided air support to ground troops, was then forced to take an emergency landing after sustaining damages from rebel gunfires.
The prolonged gunbattles prompted Lt. Gen. Romeo Dominguez, commanding officer of the Armed Forces’ Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom), to order the evacuation of all the villagers in Sitio Umangan to an elementary school in the downtown proper.
Nolcom spokesman, Lt. Col. Preme Monta, said that the mass evacuation of the exactly 573 residents of the village was also requested by Tarlac first district Rep. Gilbert Teodoro Jr., Vice Gov. Marcelino Aganon Jr. and this town’s mayor, Wilfredo Sawit.
This town is under Teodoro’s jurisdiction, while Aganon is a native here.
On Wednesday morning, the combined government forces launched a massive assault, scouring sugarcane fields in the belief that the rebels were still holding their position.
The rebels were however nowhere to be found in the about eight-hectare sugarcane fields. Bloodstains were seen in the area, which Visaya said indicated that several of the guerillas were also bleeding from gunshot wounds.
Troops were able to recover from the scene of the firefights two unexploded hand grenades, a cellular phone, assorted medicines and medical equipment, a two-way radio, several backpacks containing the insurgents’ personal belongings, subversive documents, a laptop computer and a printer.
Late last Tuesday, the NPA provincial command here in Tarlac has claimed that its fighters who were involved in the encounter here were already able to escape from the dragnet thrown against them by the military and police.
It said then that a female guerilla was however left behind. Through the media, the NPA advised her to peacefully surrender, and urged the AFP to accord her the rights due to prisoners-of-war (POWs).
But the woman rebel was apparently also able to run away from pursuing government forces, as neither the military nor police mentioned of any captive guerilla.
At around 1 p.m. Wednesday, after assessing that the rebels were already able to disband and flee from Sitio Umangan, the Nolcom gave the go signal for the evacuated villagers to return to their homes.
But Visaya said that it was likely that the rebels were still within the boundaries of this town with the neighboring municipalities of Victoria, Gerona and Ramos, passing themselves off as farmers until they would be able to return to their guerilla bases.
Because of this, Tarlac police provincial director, Senior Superintendent Angelo Sunglao, has ordered all the police detachments here and the said towns, including those in Paniqui and Anao, to setup checkpoints and “blocking forces” with the hope of nettingthe fleeing rebels.
The 69th IB has continued to occupy the Dona Felisa Sawit Elementary School in Barangay Balite here until late Wednesday, where Visaya, 703rd IBde commander Col. Pedro Curva, and Tarlac provincial police deputy for operations Superintendent Danilo Alcoriza were laying down mopping-up operations plan in the village and nearby communities.
Local authorities here vehemently denied reports that two civilians, reportedly a village councilor and a barber, were slain during the exchange of gunfires. The claim actually came from human rights advocates belonging to the group, Karapatan, which sent a “fact-finding mission” to this town at around noon-time Wednesday.
Both the military and the police believe that the rebels were then preparing to stage an assault on isolated government positions, as troops were able to recover from the village a truck that was repainted to resemble camouflage-colored military trucks.
The truck is now impounded at the police station here. The vehicle was found to being used by farmers to transport newly-cut sugarcanes to the sugar refinery of the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita.
[back]
