STOPPED. Two vehicles belonging to the International Committee on Red Cross and one from the local Red Cross are intercepted in a quarantine checkpoint in Barangay Payasan, Lianga in Surigao del Sur around 10 a.m. Friday (May 29) by the police and the military. Authorities say they received reports that the said vehicles are ferrying alleged members of the communist New People’s Army, who were wounded in recent skirmishes with government troopers in the province. (Photo courtesy of SDSPPO)
BUTUAN CITY – Three vehicles carrying wounded individuals, who are suspected members of the communist New People’s Army (NPA), were intercepted by authorities in a quarantine checkpoint in the Surigao del Sur town of Lianga around 10 a.m. Friday (May 29).
Col. James T. Goforth, Surigao del Sur Provincial Police Office (SDSPPO) director, said two of the vehicles are registered with the International Committee on Red Cross (ICRC) and one with the local Red Cross.
“We received information that wounded NPA members are being transported using ICRC vehicles. These NPA combatants were wounded during the series of encounters that took place in the province in the past weeks,” Goforth told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) Saturday (May 30).
Goforth said the quarantine checkpoints in the province manned by the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the military were immediately alerted after they received the information.
Goforth said the vehicles stopped at a quarantine checkpoint in Barangay Payasan, Lianga, included a white Toyota Hi-Ace van ambulance with Red Cross logo bearing plate number WOG 769.
The white ambulance was carrying a wounded person identified as Noel Dadang, 30, with a gunshot wound on his left rib and parietal area.
Dadang, who refused to declare his address, was escorted in the said ambulance by two residents of Zamboanga del Norte, police said.
Goforth said the second vehicle is a white Toyota Land Cruiser with ICRC logo and plate number 30613 carrying one resident of Surigao del Sur.
Perez, who was accompanied inside the vehicle by two residents of Davao City, has a bullet wound on her right leg.
The third vehicle was a Toyota Land Cruiser with ICRC logo bearing plate number 30614.
“The wounded NPA members were from Janipaan, San Agustin, Surigao del Sur. Both were wounded during the series of encounters with government forces,” Goforth said.
He added that the Red Cross and ICRC vehicles were heading to Davao Region for the treatment of the wounded individuals in a medical facility in the area.
Goforth said the Red Cross and ICRC vehicles and the wounded individuals were turned over to Col. Ringo C. Zarzoso, the director of the Agusan del Sur Provincial Police Office (ADSPPO).
In turn, Zarzoso handed over the vehicles with the wounded individuals to proper authorities in Davao Region, particularly in the province of Davao de Oro. (PNA)
