DAVAO CITY – The Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) assured Wednesday its forces are on high-alert status against possible New People's Army's (NPA) atrocities, especially in areas identified with security concerns in the May 9 elections.
Lt. Gen. Greg Almerol, Eastmincom commander, said security preparations and contingency measures are in place in areas identified as election hotspots in Caraga and Davao regions.
"Preparations include intensified random checkpoints and ensuring that available resources are ready for deployment, especially during the transport of election materials to polling centers," Almerol said in a statement.
Likewise, he said the series of surrenders among the communist NPA members and the collapse of its units have undermined the group—enough to prevent it from conducting atrocities.
Almerol said the troops conducting security operations recently figured in a series of encounters with the NPA in the Caraga and Davao regions that led to the neutralization of six personalities.
The latest encounter on April 29 in the Surigao del Sur town of Lanuza resulted in the death of two unidentified NPA combatants.
Almerol said the rebels were planning to extort local candidates who were holding campaign rallies in Barangay Nurcia, Lanuza.
On April 28, a clash also transpired between the troops of the 901st Brigade's 30IB and NPA in the hinterlands of Bacuag, Surigao del Norte.
A day before, four NPA members, two of whom were minors, surrendered to the troops of 701st Brigade's 66IB in the Davao de Oro town of Maragusan.
"We condemn the NPA's incessant use of children in their terrorist activities," Almerol said.
The Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
The National Democratic Front has been formally designated as a terrorist organization by the Anti-Terrorism Council on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and inseparable part” of the CPP-NPA created in April 1973. (PNA)
