Military bares details on ‘Red October’ attacks

MANILA, Philippines — The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) revealed yesterday what it described as a more detailed picture of how the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), planned for increased and coordinated attacks under its Red October plot to oust President Duterte.

These plans, according to Brig. Gen. Antonio Parlade, AFP assistant deputy chief of staff for operations, include five sub-operation plans that target the military, police and civilians suspected to have acted as Oplan Tokhang agents or are believed to be behind the so-called extrajudicial killings.

Parlade said the documents decoded by the military showed that the CPP-NPA’s original intention was to launch or execute coordinated tactical offensives from Oct. 11 to 17. He said this might be calibrated again by the rebels after the military exposed the plot and after the Sept. 21 effort to start destabilization moves with the help of opposition groups fizzled out.

He said the recovered and decoded documents showed the operation codes Supermarket, Casino, Bulldozer, Tabasco and Hades.

Supermarket reportedly refers to the attacks against AFP detachments and Philippine National Police (PNP) stations that would allow communist rebels to amass firearms.

Casino refers to the Special Partisan Unit (SPARU) operations that target military assets and intelligence operatives, while Tabasco seeks to target suspected Oplan Tokhang agents.

Operation Bulldozer, Parlade said, involves attacks against mining companies and the destruction of high-impact government projects, while Hades refers to the attacks against government personalities “na may utang na dugo sa kilusan” (with blood debts) from the time of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo onwards.  

“And this is not even their calibrated plan. This is just their original plan which they wanted to pursue because it involves the NPA. (We) will know about their other plans in due time, but critical mass? I doubt,” Parlade said partly in Filipino.

He noted that Supermarket, Casino, Bulldozer, Tabasco and Hades all form part of the Red October ouster or destabilization plot contained in the “memo” of the CPP-NPA’s National Operations Command (NOC), which the AFP was able to decode and which government forces and the public should be made aware of. 

The military officer added that the plan has been set for a long time but has failed due to the aggressive operations of the military and the PNP against communist rebels.

Parlade said the new details disprove accusations that the AFP has sloppy intelligence work and is concocting fiction stories.  

“We hope these attacks don’t happen, just to prove that indeed these CPP plots exist. The best way is to preempt them with the help of the communities helping to watch the NPAs every move,” he said.

Asked about the gravity of Red October, PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde dismissed this as “not that serious,” although he admitted that he does not have access to all the intelligence information that are available to the President.

Duterte earlier claimed that opposition groups are plotting to oust him.

“I think there is a basis for the statement of the President (about the ouster plot). Remember the President has unlimited access to information, not just the PNP. There is a reason for this and he has basis for saying it,” he said.

He also said there is no recruitment for Red October as far as the PNP ranks are concerned and that the protest rallies could not be attributed to the plot, explaining that these activities have become a way of life for some sectors. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe