Armed men attack Army detachment

BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA

SAN JOSE, Antique – Armed men strafed a Philippine Army detachment in Brgy. Osorio 1, San Remegio town hours after a delivery van was torched by suspected rebels in Leon, Iloilo on Monday.

The attackers were likely New People’s Army (NPA) cadres, too, said 1Lt. Mark Andrew Posadas, information officer of the 3rd Infantry Division.

The strafing happened around 10 p.m. It lasted for five minutes.

“It was clearly an act of harassment,” said Posadas.

The armed men were strategically posted some 500 meters away from the detachment, he added.
There were no casualties.

Aside from housing regular members of the 82nd Infantry Division, the detachment also hosts Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit and Civilian Volunteer Organization members.

Brgy. Osorio 1 is some 16 kilometers away from the town proper of San Remegio.

Police Regional Office 6 Director, Chief Supt. Samuel Pagdilao Jr. immediately directed all chiefs of police and station commanders, especially in far-flung barangays of Western Visayas, to strengthen their defenses.

He also directed Chief Insp. Melvin Ricohermoso, commander of the 3rd Maneuver Battalion of the Regional Public Safety Battalion, to identify police stations located in NPA-infiltrated areas, and to reinforce these with additional personnel.

Around noon on Monday, a van delivering eggs was torched by armed men in Brgy. Samalague, Leon, Iloilo.

The way the attack was executed was similar to what happened to the delivery van containing Philip Morris products in Igbaras town last year, said Posadas.

The Army believes that the NPA’s Southern Panay Front was responsible for both incidents.

Van driver Jomarie Tuadles said men, who all had short firearms, took all the eggs worth around P50,000 before setting his vehicle on fire.

Tuadles also said the men took his P270,000 collection.

Posadas called the NPA “extortionists pretending to be revolutionaries.”

“They threaten and coerce business owners into giving them basic provisions so they (the rebels) will not starve to death,” Posadas explained./PN

 

 
   
         


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