RPG-7s, M-79s Fired at this Gov'nor

  

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

In a huddle with fellow media men, some of them cited that the recent ambush of former Pangasinan governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. that killed his body guard and driver and wounded his other escorts was due to the volleys of fire from high powered assault rifles M-14 and M-16.

“The ten gunmen positioned at the ambush site in a close quarter military fashion,” a radio commentator who quoted what provincial police director and Colonel Redrico Maranan told them in the earlier press conference held at the San Carlos City's police station.

I told them that the bush-whack of the former regional police director and ex- congressman in his two convoy vehicles was child’s play if one's compared how malefactors in our place in Mindanao pounced on a then incumbent governor.

ROCKET FIRE - A gun man wielding a lethal Russian made Rocket Propelled Grenade -7 (RPG-7) waits for the signal to blast in an ambush fire several convoys of the cruising  sports's utility vehicle's Chevrolet Suburbans below the buildings.

In July 3, 2001 Maguindanao Governor Datu Andal Ampatuan, Sr. (yes Virginia the patriarch of those Ampatuan siblings who killed 32 journalists out of the 58 they ordered slain) and his security escorts were on board five vehicles on their way to Cotabato City from coastal town of Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao when they were ambushed by treacherous brigands.

30 Muslim gunmen, who positioned on both sides of the highway in Barangay Salimbao, Sultan Kudarat, daringly opened fire at them with Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG-7s), shoulder-borne M79 projectiles, and machine guns.

Compared to the M-14 and M-16 assault rifles used by the hired hands against Espino, RPG has a grenade that protrudes from its launch tube with a size of 40–105 millimeters in diameter and weighs between 2.0 and 4.5 kilograms compared to the minuscule 7.62 x 51 mm and 5.56×45mm  bullets of the M-14 and M-16. 

Ampatuan’s vehicle, a Ford F-150 pickup, was crippled in the initial rocket fire. His bodyguards, who fought back with the ambushers, extricated him out of the vehicle before it caught fire and exploded. Four of his bodyguards were also slightly wounded in the initial volley of fires.

But it left four people dead, more than a dozen wounded, and triggered a conflagration that destroyed 25 houses because a store selling liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was hit by the blast of the Russian made RPG-7 or probably B.L, not the Bausch & Lomb of Rayban sunglasses, but the defectively Buhat sa Lanao or Made in Lanao RPG-7 if we translated these words to English.

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The ambushers, believed to be under the behest of the political rival of Ampatuan, had running gunfights with the responding soldiers. Two women perished in that cross fire while several others that include two school children wounded.

Another ambushed that ensued in my former province North Cotabato (they called it now Province of Cotabato) was when in July 2017 three Ford E-150 vans of the Presidential Security Group were ensnared by the New People’s Army who usurped as Army troop manned a checkpoint between the boundary of Arakan, Province of Cotabato and Davao City.

After the third van was disabled, just like the Toyota Innova backed up car of Espino after its driver jumped off, the Praetorian Guards of President Rodrigo Duterte would not disembark but instead stayed in a prone position inside the U.S made vehicle incessantly praying their Hail Mary.

To force out the soldiers, the commies brought a land mine they shouted they, son of a gun, would plant under the belly of the vehicle.

“Iyong NPA may dalang parang kaldero ilalagay nila doon sa ilalim ng van. Pero sumigaw ang isang PSG na may babae and bata doon sa loob,” one witness a local resident quoted by the camera of a local TV station that caused for the Reds to back out.

Because of the incoming reinforcement, the NPA absconded the victims, who waited for their coup d' grace, in their two jeeps and a pickup truck.

In case the land mine was allowed to explode, the PSG personnel, the woman, and child inside would be minced meat.

Because of the boldness and impunity of the bad guys to use high powered weapons against their preys, some of these personalities will be protecting their sports utility vehicles soonest with armor plates that could withstand not only M-14s and M-16s, but RPG-7, just like in the Tom Clancy’s flick Clear & Present Danger, and probably land mine.

The only politician I know in Pangasinan who has armor plates in his SUV’s Chevrolet Suburban is billionaire and Bayambang Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao. He got, by the way, three similar black Suburbans and I ain’t know if the other two are bullet proof, too.

Somebody told me upon reading this blog that former congressional candidate Raul Sison and even former governor Espino, Jr have bullet proof vehicles, too.

Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Anybody know who Lee Harvey Oswald was Private Snowball?

Private Snowball: Sir, he shot Kennedy, sir!

Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: That's right, and do you know how far away he was?

Private Snowball: Sir, it was pretty far! From that book suppository building, sir! Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: All right, knock it off! Two hundred and fifty feet! He was two hundred and fifty feet away and shooting at a moving target. Oswald got off three rounds with an old Italian bolt action rifle in only six seconds and scored two hits, including a head shot! Do any of you people know where these individuals learned to shoot? Private Joker?

Private Joker: Sir, in the Marines, sir!

Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: In the Marines! Outstanding! Those individuals showed what one motivated marine and his rifle can do! And before you ladies leave my island, you will be able to do the same thing. -(EXCERPTS FROM THE WAR MOVIE'S FULL METAL JACKET)

READ MY OTHER ARTICLE:

Why snipers are glorified, glamorized?

(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)