Last Sunday, two truckloads of soldiers were reportedly seen in Minglanilla town, provoking suspicions that the military may have been combing the southern towns for Sen. Gringo Honasan.
Honasan is rumored to be in Cebu because he owns a resthouse in Alcoy and has a relative in Minglanilla.
But Central Command chief Jacinto Ligot denied that they are pursuing the senator who is now facing charges of rebellion after he was tagged as the alleged mastermind in a weekend mutiny last month.
Col. Nestor Añonuevo, Central Command spokesman, said there was no authorized deployment of troops in Minglanilla because such a move would need a clearance from higher headquarters.
While he did not call it troop movement, Añonuevo said the troops sighted in Minglanilla might have been a group of soldiers from Mindanao who delivered the body of their dead comrade somewhere in the south.
The group, he added, might also have been Army soldiers, numbering about 50, from all over the Visayas, who are taking part in a five-day training.
The training, to be held simultaneously in Barangays Mabini, Binaliw and Agsungot here, started yesterday and will end on Sunday.
Añonuevo said the training is confined to Cebu City and there is no authorized troop movement outside.
Meanwhile, Gov. Pablo Garcia down—played the possible effect of the alleged troop movements to the peace and order situation in Cebu.
Garcia said the alleged two truckloads of soldiers sighted in Minglanilla are not hostile troops. — Freeman News Service