North Cotabato Governor Emmylou Mendoza
KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Alarmed by the series of violence perpetrated by communist rebels in Magpet, North Cotabato, the provincial governor has turned to the military and asked for more troops to secure civilians.
North Cotabato Governor Emmylou Mendoza has requested the Army’s 10th Infantry Division to send in additional troops to augment the 19th Infantry Battalion (IB) and put up more military detachment in three rebel-infested villages.
Mendoza was alarmed by the series of New People’s Army (NPA) atrocities in Magpet, including the murder on Monday of town councilor Antonio Takinan, an Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative to the Magpet town council.
Presiding over the provincial peace and order council that she chairs, Mendoza on Wednesday sought the deployment of troops and establishment of Army checkpoints in Barangays Pangao-an, Binay and Tagbac.
It was in Barangay Tagbac that Takinan was ambushed along with another IP village chair.
Citing reports from Magpet local government unit, Mendoza said curfew hours could not be implemented in the three adjoining villages because village officials could not impose them for fear of reprisal from the rebels.
“These areas are entry and exit points of armed men and there was no presence of military in the area,” she said in an interview over DXND-AM here. Communist rebels have been threatening the villagers and creating fear of violence, she added.
On Tuesday, the rebels set off a roadside bomb and opened fire on a KM35 military truck loaded with soldiers from the Army’s 19th IB.
Senior Inspector Mari Molina, Magpet town police chief, said the ambush occurred in Sitio Kiantog, Barangay Tagbac at past 4 p.m.
The Army retaliated and a firefight ensued until the rebels fled deep into the forested area of the village.
No casualty on the government side was reported. Molina said the perpetrators belonged to NPA Guerilla Front 53 - Far South Mindanao Region. (PNA)
