Dy unfazed by rebs’ threat

ILAGAN, Isabela — "Come and get me."

Isabela Gov. Faustino Dy Jr. has issued this challenge to the New People’s Army (NPA) after Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison reportedly ordered the rebel front’s Cagayan Valley Regional Committee to "execute" leading Isabela officials for "conniving" with the "imperialist government of Gloria Maca—pagal-Arroyo."

"If building roads and bridges for farmers, schools for poor children, and hospitals for indigent patients are mortal sins to them, then I dare them to come and get me," Dy said during an inauguration of a school here the other day.

The governor, who claimed to have been receiving death threats from the NPA since he assumed his post in 2001, said the rebels are just looking for the "slightest opportunity" to eliminate him.

Military communications experts recently intercepted an alleged coded instruction from Sison directing one Evangeline Rapanut, alias Ka Chat, said to be the secretary-general of the Cagayan Valley Regional Committee, to effect the "execution" of Dy, Vice Gov. Santiago Respicio, fourth district Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao, schools division superintendent Dr. Benito Tumamao, provincial election officer Erwin Valerozo, provincial fiscal Anthony Foz and a number of town mayors, not later than the second quarter of this year.

The three communist units in Isabela, namely the Benito Tesorio Command, Filomena Asuncion Front and the Reynaldo Piñol Front, were to "plan and strategize to carry out this directive," the order supposedly stated.

"I am not taking any chances. The threat is for real. They really want to get me out of their way," Dy said.

Last year, the Armed Forces provided Dy with a platoon-sized contingent, including an armored personnel carrier, from the Army’s 5th Infantry Division to beef up the governor’s own security.