DUMAGUETE CITY – Police stations in Negros Oriental are on heightened vigilance against possible attacks by the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) following recent skirmishes between rebels and government troops this week, the provincial police office said Friday.
Lt. Col. Roland Lavisto, Police Community Affairs and Development Unit (PCADU) chief of the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office (NOPPO), told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) that this is to prevent a repeat of an attack staged by the NPA on the La Libertad police station in November 2008, during which one policeman was wounded while the suspects raided the armory and carted away several firearms.
“I visited La Libertad, Vallehermoso, Guihulngan City, and other areas up north yesterday (Thursday) to ensure that the police stations are prepared and their security measures are in place, as well as validated their deployment plans,” Lavisto said.
He said police stations in the province, while remaining under heightened alerts since the elections, could be vulnerable targets of NPA atrocities following two encounters in the hinterlands of Guihulngan City on Wednesday and Thursday between the 62nd Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army and members of the NPA’s Central Negros 1.
He pointed out that while the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), specifically the Philippine Army, is the lead agency on counter-insurgency operations, the Philippine National Police (PNP) also has its own specific units such as the regional and provincial mobile force companies to assist the military.
The AFP and the PNP are both actively involved in the whole-of-nation approach for inclusive and sustainable peace through the activities of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), he added. (PNA)
