Unidentified armed men alarm local authorities

SIKATUNA, BOHOL, Philippines  — A police intelligence officer, earlier reported to have been abducted, was said to have engaged in a shootout with three unidentified armed men in Barangay Badiang of this town recently.

No one was reported hurt in the shooting but Mayor Jose Ellorimo, citing initial information he received, said the town has been alarmed over this and he directed the local police force to be on alert since Thursday.

There were speculations that the armed men were members of the New People's Army but these have no confirmation yet. Even the Bohol Police Provincial Office headquarters could not validate yet the report about these rebels in the barangay.

The intelligence officer, Abundio Jala, has reportedly tried to verify reports about the presence of the armed men in the barangay.

Reports said that the unidentified men were preparing food in an abandoned hut in the barangay, but as Jala was about to reach them, he was met instead with bursts of gunfire from the men prompting him to return fire.

The BPPO dismissed talks, being spread around the town after the clash, that Jala, a native of this town, was snatched by the armed men.

The report caused the BPPO and the 802nd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army to dispatch troops immediately to the area, said provincial police director Constantino Barot.

In a telephone interview, a source of neighboring town of Sevilla said police force also were sent out as blocking force within the border of Sevilla and Sikatuna.

Law enforcers have been in hot pursuit of the armed men who fled to the forested area near the boundary of the two towns.

It can be recalled that the police and the military have been claiming that Bohol was already an insurgency-free province. (FREEMAN)