Gov’t, Reds commit to stop offensives

NPA raids Iloilo police station

MANILA, Philippines -  The government will suspend offensives against communist rebels to pave the way for the resumption of formal peace talks, the chief negotiator announced yesterday.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the move was meant to reciprocate a declaration of communist negotiators last Saturday that the New People’s Army (NPA) would stop attacks to allow the military to focus on the fight against Maute and Abu Sayyaf terrorists in Marawi. He did not say when the cessation of offensives would start.

Bello made the announcement hours after NPA rebels raided a police station in Iloilo’s Maasin town yesterday, seizing guns and robbing the police of personal belongings including cash, jewelry and laptops.

Last Saturday, the military killed three NPA members in Davao Oriental and two others in Compostela Valley.

“The Philippine government hereby correspondingly reciprocates with the same declaration of not undertaking offensive operations against the (NPA),” Bello declared.

In Maasin, officials said about 50 raiders arrived on a tarpaulin-covered truck, passing the town proper teeming with the usual Sunday crowd before stopping in front of the police station along Taft Street.

Initial reports said two women from the 50 heavily armed band entered the police station and pretended to file a blotter complaint. They surprised the nine policemen on duty at the precinct before announcing the attack.

Police reported no casualties, but the rebels took the weapons and personal belongings of the police including cash and laptops.

Vice Mayor Francis Amboy said he was prevented by armed men from going to the police station.

Amboy said he learned of the attack and immediately proceeded to the precinct near his house when armed men blocked his path.

Amboy said he took cover but heard the rebels warning over a megaphone that civilians should stay out of their way.

The rebels assured the crowd that they meant no harm and would only go after the police station, he said.

“I was taking cover but as they were leaving, I saw around 40 to 50 persons on board the Elf truck. They also commandeered the station’s police car,” he said.

Amboy said he saw some of the rebels were wearing bonnets to cover their faces.

Some of them were shouting “Mabuhay ang NPA” before they escaped, Amboy said.

He said several residents went scampering to safety while several stores were forced to closed shop for the day.

Western Visayas police director Chief Supt. Cesar Hawthorne Binag said when a truckload of armed men arrived, there were two policemen outside the precinct.

They were pushed by the rebels to go inside where they joined their seven other colleagues who were disarmed, handcuffed and made to lie face down, he said.

Binag said Senior Inspector Ray Cordero, the Maasin police chief, was not on duty at the time of the attack.

“They were made to lie face down and the rebels stepped on their heads. In less than 15 minutes, it was done,” Binag said.

The rebels took eight M16 rifles, four Glock pistols and five tactical radios.

They also carted away the policemen’s jewelry, four mobile phones, two laptops and P29,000 cash.

“It was a case of robbery. They were there only to rob the policemen,” Binag said.

He said the regional police are tracking down the attackers who abandoned their getaway vehicles The police Toyota Hilux pick-up truck was found abandoned at Barangay Cagay, Alimodian while the Elf truck was found at Barangay Ingwan in the same town.

The incident came a week after the provincial police had warned of an impending attack from the NPA in the region.

Regional police deputy director for operations Senior Supt. Christopher Tambungan said Maasin was among 15 towns being targeted for attack by communist rebels.

“They’ve been warned,” Tambungan said.

“I inspected this police station on June 3…

I already told them of the strategies that the NPAs might employ in doing their attacks, including those who are pretending to make blotter reports,” he added.

Following the incident, all 23 policemen of the Maasin Police Station were ordered relieved and assigned to the regional police director.

They will be replaced by personnel from the Regional Public Safety Battalion 6, Tambungan said.

The government last month cancelled their peace dialogue with the communists following the spate of attacks on government troops throughout the country. Yesterday’s attack in central Visayas is the most recent.

Earlier, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) relayed their stance against the Maute group in Marawi, condemning the militants for laying siege on the city and their effort to carve an Islamic State caliphate in Mindanao.

The four weeks of fighting in Marawi have left more than 300 dead and thousands of families homeless.

Despite their sentiments, the NPA engaged in the attack on Maasin.

Sources said the attackers are from NPA’s Southern and Central front committees of the Komiteng Rehiyon - Panay (KRP).

They noted that one front committee could not handle the attack.

Less than an hour after the incident, the NPA’s Coronacion “Waling-Waling” Chiva Command owned up to the Maasin raid in its Facebook account.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said operations against the NPA continue despite the fighting in Marawi.

“While the AFP is busy combating the Maute-ISIS group in Marawi, significant developments are happening in our fight against the NPA, particularly after the government did not participate in the fifth round of peace negotiations with the communist terrorists,” AFP Public Affairs Office chief Col. Edgard Arevalo said.

He said military forces were able to conduct successful operations against the NPA outside Marawi City, mostly in northeastern Mindanao since May 23.

Arevalo said the most recent encounter took place in Paquibato District, Davao City on June 11 where troops from the Army’s 16th Infantry Battalion were able to neutralize one NPA fighter and recover a rifle.

The AFP said it saw a surge of surrenders from the NPA starting May 23 including that of five rebels in Talaingod, Davao del Norte on June 13, and six others with high-powered firearms who turned themselves in in Maguindanao on June 6.

Arevalo noted the NPA had tried to change their tactic by offering to help in the offensive against the Maute militants. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Michael Punongbayan