Cops sent to Abra seize a mere shotgun

One of the three police teams dispatched by Task Force Abra to dismantle a 30-man private army of a local politician in Tineg town went home after two days of operations with a small catch — a homemade shotgun.

The 32-man police team headed by Senior Inspector Arthur Ating reported that the 18 members of the politician’s private army based in Barangay Caganayan were nowhere to be found.

The 23 houses the team had planned to raid were also abandoned and locked from the outside, it added.

Senior Superintendent Eugene Martin, Task Force Abra commander, suspects that the operation in Barangay Caganayan had been leaked.

He said he got reports that a green private jeep owned by the local politician arrived in Caganayan two days before 140 policemen fielded by Task Force Abra left the Cordillera Administrative Region police headquarters in Benguet Saturday night.

"The occupant of the green vehicle talked to the armed men thereat before leaving," Martin said in his report to Camp Crame.

Hours before his men took off from Benguet, Martin said the armed goons were seen engaging in a drinking spree.

"I’m now investigating how the raid was leaked to our targets," said.

Martin said two other Task Force Abra teams have not yet reported the results of their missions, adding that their targets were far-flung villages in Tineg town.

Earlier, Martin said the local politician was maintaining a 30-man private army. It was not clear though if the politico is allied with Gov. Vicente Valera or not.

Valera was implicated in the slaying of Abra Rep. Luis Bersamin and his police bodyguard in front of the Mt. Carmel Church in Quezon City last month.

Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Calderon created Task Force Abra to maintain peace and order in the province in the run-up to the May elections. Bersamin was the fourth Abreño politician slain.

Martin said Ating’s team had to hike for 12 hours on mountainous terrain to reach Barangay Caganayan, only to find the village almost deserted and the houses of the politician’s armed goons locked. A house-to-house search yielded a mere homemade shotgun.

Based on talks with children, the goons were said to be armed with M-14 and M-16 Armalite rifles.

Martin believes that the politician’s armed goons hid in the mountains "while the heat is on."

"They will come back and we are prepared for them," he said.