Antique cops wary of rebel retaliation

“We are reminding the COPs (chiefs of police) to maximize their personnel at the police station,” says Antique police provincial director Superintendent Norby Escobar on Thursday, a day after seven suspected members of the New People’s Army were killed in a gunfight with soldiers and cops in Barangay Atabay, San Jose, Antique. SAN JOSE PNP

SAN JOSE, Antique – All police stations in Antique were advised to be on “full alert” for the possible retaliation of the New People’s Army (NPA) following the death of seven of its suspected members.

“We are reminding the COPs (chiefs of police) to maximize their personnel at the police station, said Antique Police Provincial Office (APPO) director Superintendent Norby Escobar.

The APPO has around 800 police personnel.

Escobar said maintaining the full alert status was an order from Police Regional Office 6 director Chief Superintendent John Bulalacao.

Seven suspected NPA members were killed in a gunfight with soldiers and the police in Barangay Atabay in this capital town past midnight on Aug. 15.

Escobar said the suspected rebels had been under surveillance for the past weeks, adding that they were plotting to raid the municipal police station.

“They were conducting surveillance so they could attack the police station at any opportune time,” Escobar stressed.

Extortion letters, a sub-machinegun among other firearms, explosives, mobile phones, laptops, and tablet computers were recovered from an abandoned village church where the suspected rebels had been hiding.

“We will not allow the NPA to engage in extortion activities under the guise of collecting revolutionary taxes,” said Bulalacao.

The units that operated against the rebels were the San Jose police station, Antique Provincial Mobile Force Company and the Philippine Army’s 301st Brigade Intelligence Task Group. None of their operatives died or were injured. (With a report from PNA/PN)

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