FOUR policemen, including an officer, were wounded last Sunday after members of the New People’s Army (NPA) attacked and tried to overrun a police station in Misamis Oriental.
The attack happened as rebels also killed a municipal councilor in Cagayan last Saturday, which came in the heels of President Duterte’s order for security forces to shoot armed guerillas on sight.
Reports reaching Camp Crame showed about 200 NPA rebels attacked the Binuangan Municipal Police Station (MPS) at around 3:15 a.m., firing high-powered firearms, including rifle grenades.
The rebels, members of the NPA’s Guerilla Front 4B, were led by Manuelito Satur alias Commander Musong, and Oscar Romania alias Amboy.
Another commander, Makong Mansigyaw, also put up three road blocks.
The attack resulted in the wounding of Senior Insp. Dante Hallazgo, SPO1 Ramonito Zambas, PO3 Alberto Bernadas and PO1 Joshua Satur, who all sustained shrapnel wounds.
The report said 23 policemen were at the station during the attack and held their ground for more than two hours, preventing the NPAs from overrunning the police station.
The rebels withdrew toward Barangay Kitamba, also in the municipality, onboard two forward trucks they reportedly commandeered.
The attackers reportedly planned to burn the station as shown by the containers of gasoline recovered by
policemen.
Chief Supt. Timoteo Pacleb, director of Police Regional Office 10 (PRO 10), commended the Binuangan MPS personnel for defending their station, despite being outnumbered.
Pacleb directed all police units under PRO 10 to continue intensifying security measures and target hardening efforts to thwart any attempt by the rebels to launch offensives.
Last Saturday alleged rebels who were in camouflage killed Angelo Luis, 56, councilor of Baggao, Cagayan, inside his residence, said Lt. Col. Isagani Nato, public information officer of the Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command.
The NPAs also carted away four firearms from the councilor’s home.
Meanwhile, a rebel, said to be a bomb expert, surrendered to the Army in Compostela Valley.
Lt. Col. Esteveyn Ducusin, commander of the Army’s 71st Infantry Battalion, identified the surrenderee as Jomar Madalo Antolin, alias Raffy, an active member of the NPA’s Guerrilla Front 2, Southern Mindanao Regional Party Committee.
Ducusin said Antolin operated in Compostela Valley province, particularly in Maco town.
“He has been an organizer in Maco for seven years and a known bomb expert,” Ducusin said.
Antolin was tagged in several encounters between NPA rebels and government forces in Compostela Valley.