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BY RUBY P. SILUBRICO
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Friday, February 10, 2017
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ILOILO – Philippine National Police (PNP) stations most especially in hinterland municipalities are vulnerable to New People’s Army (NPA) attacks, according to the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO).
Nine towns are of particular concern to the IPPO. They are considered rebel-infested. These are Tubungan, Igbaras and San Joaquin in the 1st District; Leon and Alimodian in the 2nd District; and Calinog, Bingawan, Lambunao, and Janiuay in the 3rdd District
Not leaving anything to chance, however, the IPPO placed all 42 municipal police stations and that of the component city of Passi on full alert status.
Do not leave police stations unmanned, Senior Superintendent Harold Tuzon, provincial police director, told his police chiefs. He summoned them after rebels ambushed government troops in Tapaz, Capiz on Tuesday.
Be ready at all times and be wary of strangers milling around police stations, Tuzon reminded his men.
Over 60 NPA rebels stormed the police station of Tubungan and its town hall in June 2004. Eight policemen and about 50 municipal employees were held hostage.
The attack caught Tubungan policemen by surprise. The rebels took their guns and before leaving, they left two red flags at the front door of the town hall signifying their successful attack.
According to Tuzon, policemen should also be wary of ambushes.
In Metro Manila, the Department of Justice (DOJ) ordered the issuance of an immigration lookout bulletin order (ILBO) against suspected top Panay Island rebel leader Maria Concepcion “Concha” Araneta Bocala and 19 other National Democratic Front of the Philippines consultants who participated in the peace talks.
The DOJ issued the order on Wednesday, a day after the ambush in Tapaz that killed a Philippine Army soldier and wounded two others.
The Army in Panay has also been placed on full alert status. Close military and police cooperation is one of the strategies of the Duterte administration in defeating the NPA, according to Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief-of-staff General Eduardo Año during the Joint Peace and Security Coordinating Council (JPSCC) meeting in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City yesterday.
“We are strengthening the mechanism of the JPSCC, particularly the creation of joint cells at different levels, so in our planning and actions the PNP and the AFP will be always together, down to the provincial level,” he said in Filipino.
Given emphasis in the JPSCC meeting is the intensified AFP-PNP operation against rebels.
On Feb. 4 in the remote village of Cabatangan in Lambunao, an encounter happened around 12:05 a.m. while the Charlie Company of the 61st Infantry Battalion was verifying reports that an armed group of about 14 men were in the area.
On Feb. 1 rebels fired guns in the hinterland barangay of Boloc in Tubungan, some 250 meters away from where Army soldiers of the 82nd Infantry Battalion were staying.
The bursts of gunfire heard were around 12:25 a.m., hours after the NPA leadership announced the lifting of their unilateral ceasefire, alleging continued military atrocities across the country.
With these threats, Tuzon said the IPPO will also utilize the Public Safety Company./PN
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