Around 100 Maoist guerrillas from the New People’s Army clashed with Philippine government forces in gun battles. One FA-50 fighter jet from the government’s military went missing, a development that is currently dominating headlines across the Philippines.
The scene unraveled in the rugged mountains of Bukidnon, in the south of the archipelago. The government forces launched a counterinsurgency operation ahead of the 56th anniversary celebrations of the NPA at the end of March.
The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. They’ve been locked in one of the longest-running communist armed struggles in the world, pursuing its strategy of protracted people’s war.