In observance of the Holy Week, the Philippine News Agency’s online news service will be off on March 29, Good Friday, and March 30, Black Saturday. Normal operations will resume on March 31, Easter Sunday.

— The Editors

Army in Samar braces for NPA attacks on election day

By Sarwell Meniano

May 9, 2019, 5:42 pm

<p><strong>DRY RUN.</strong> Soldiers of 43<sup>rd</sup> Infantry Battalion and policemen of Lope de Vega, Northern Samar prepare for a dry run of its contingency plan for possible attacks of New People’s Army based on actual scenario. Government forces hold the dry run at the municipal police station of Lope de Vega, Northern Samar on Wednesday (May 8, 2019). <em>(Photo by Philippine Army 43<sup>rd</sup> Infantry Battalion)</em></p>

DRY RUN. Soldiers of 43rd Infantry Battalion and policemen of Lope de Vega, Northern Samar prepare for a dry run of its contingency plan for possible attacks of New People’s Army based on actual scenario. Government forces hold the dry run at the municipal police station of Lope de Vega, Northern Samar on Wednesday (May 8, 2019). (Photo by Philippine Army 43rd Infantry Battalion)

TACLOBAN CITY -- The Philippine Army is ready to prevent possible attacks by the New People’s Army (NPA) in Samar province on election day, a top military official said.

Philippine Army’s 8th Infantry Division’s commander ,Brig. Gen. Eliezer Lozañes, said they have already laid out their contingency plans last week to boost their preparation against attacks of members of the terrorist group.

“We are ready, but we cannot say that we will be able to prevent violence 100 percent since our enemies have no other intentions, but to look for opportunities to attack government forces,” Lozañes told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Wednesday.

The military is specifically giving more attention to some remote communities in Samar and Northern Samar provinces influenced by communist rebels.

“We have contingency plans for these areas, but I hope the community will help us prevent unnecessary loss of lives by reporting to us the presence of armed men,” Lozañes added.

The army official said violent attacks are expected in the next few days considering that rebels want to impress politicians from whom they collected permit to campaign and permit to win fees.

“The NPA is always a threat to the government any time of the year since they have fighters and firearms.”

The Commission on Elections and security agencies have identified 11 areas of grave concern this election season due to intense political rivalry and armed threats. Officials refused to name specific towns, but they said most of these areas are in Samar and Northern Samar provinces.

On Wednesday, the national government has deployed 8,710 men in uniform to secure the mid-term polls on Monday. Of the total, 5,832 of them are policemen and 2,878 are from the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

During the send-off ceremony, Eastern Visayas police deputy regional director Brig. Gen. Ariel Arcinas asked policemen to brace for possible terrorist attacks.

“Always be on alert for terrorism since we don’t discount threats. We don’t want to be caught on surprise,” Arcinas said.

Of the 8,710 deployed personnel, 2,576 of them were assigned in Leyte, 938 in Southern Leyte, 244 in Biliran, 1,935 in Samar, 1,134 in Eastern Samar, 1,509 in Northern Samar, 194 in Ormoc City, and 180 in Tacloban City. (PNA)

Comments