At the height of the insurgency in Davao region, the eastern seaboard (i.e., Davao Oriental), which hosts numerous settlements populated by Islamized tribes, was not spared from the influence of Moro secessionist movement. Punta Linao eventually became one of its targets.
On September 8, 1984, around 6:00 p.m., about 50 members of the Bangsa Moro Army, a unit of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), attacked the place. They used three hijacked Ford Fiera cabs when they surprised a police-military checkpoint at Punta Linao, Banaybanay.
Hit in the initial salvo was Cpl. Jaime Andrada, who later died, while a militiaman was wounded. Despite their wounds, the two engaged the rebels in an aggressive firefight. Cpl. Andrada managed to run and fire the caliber 30 submachine gun; unfortunately, it jammed. As the sentries sought cover, the secessionists ransacked the patrol base and seized the submachine gun and an Armalite rifle before retreating to their predestined pick-up point.
A September 11, 1984, People’s Daily Forum account (‘NPA, MNLF hit checkpoints in separate raids’) filed by Dol Oñez reported that the attackers, armed with a M-79 launcher, fled to the direction of Cuison logpond in sitio Mugbongcogon, where three pump boats waited for them.
A military pursuit operation under M/Sgt. Felipe Villaflor caught up with the band while inching close to their destination. A 45-minute skirmish ensued. Though equipped with more superior firearms, the rebels had to escape on foot after running out of ammunition.
Not to be left behind, the New People’s Army (NPA), twelve hours later, attacked Manikling, in the town of San Isidro, by strafing a Philippine Constabulary (PC) checkpoint.
At 5:30 a.m., September 9, a dump truck and Ford Fiera cab loaded with rebels numbering around 150 stopped fifty meters from the patrol base. The leader even greeted the sentries but the soldiers were promptly alerted after seeing the group was carrying very high frequency (VHF) radios! Without delay, the troops sought cover and fired the first shots that forced the insurgents to withdraw. The reports did not mention any casualty on the side of the intruders but two paramilitary troops were wounded in the exchange of fire.
On their way out of the pursuing soldiers, the rebels commandeered two pick-up trucks as back-up as they fled towards the villages of Macamao and San Roque. They also seized an Armalite rifle with 200 rounds of ammunition before escaping to the hills of Calapagan.
Three weeks later, a September 29, 1984 report in the same paper cried: “Two PC sergeants and a corporal were killed while five other soldiers were wounded in separate clashes with dissidents of the New People’s Army in Banaybanay, Calapagan and Punta Linao, Davao Oriental.”
These attacks apparently enraged Davao Oriental governor Francisco Rabat who issued a statement saying the peace and order condition in his province had deteriorated, directly blaming Maj. Salvador Daang, then the PC provincial commander, for the death of the soldiers.
As a result, Rabat, who claimed the NPA strength in the province had by then tripled, especially in the coastal towns, was accused of intervening in purely police-military affairs. The rift between the two eventually reached Camp Crame and got the attention of higher authorities.
Lt. Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, then director-general of the PC-INP, however, advised Maj. Daang to resolve his discord with the governor, saying the “civilian government is supposed to be supreme over and above the constabulary and the police.”
Curiously, in his report to the PC-INP chief, Rabat did not mention the MNLF secessionists who were allegedly “enjoying his administration’s benevolence and tolerance” but selectively focused on the atrocities committed by insurgents!
