Bicol police chief assures no HR violations in operations vs rebels in Masbate

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 31): Bicol police chief assures no HR violations in operations vs rebels in Masbate

The Bicol regional police director has personally supervised the pursuit operations against the fleeing members of the New People's Army in the aftermath of the Saturday afternoon encounter between rebels and policemen in Monreal, Masbate.

Chief Supt. Lawrence Guinto said on Thursday that the purpose of his intervention was to make sure that no human rights violations would be committed by pursuing members of the provincial police and the Regional Public Safety Battalion deployed (RPSB) in the area.

After the more than two-hour gun battle between government and rebel forces in Sitio Capatagan, Barangay Cantona in Monreal, the rebels reportedly retreated towards highly populated portion of the nearby villages and took cover inside residential houses. “Being a lawyer and a former national chief of the Human Rights Affairs Office in Camp Crame, I know the situation might end up with plenty of human rights violations by either or both sides. The safety of the civilians was my paramount concern in personally supervising the operations,” Guinto said.

RPSB reinforcement troops from Camp Gen. Simeon Ola were immediately dispatched to the scene of the encounter upon receipt of reports about the ongoing gun battle in the area involving a big group of armed rebels. It was learned that a platoon-size RPSB men were on foot patrol in Capatagan when fired upon by the rebels. A gunfight subsequently ensued between them that lasted more than two hours.

Guinto has not confirmed yet whether the rebels involved in Capatagan encounter are die-hard NPAs or those serving local politicians as a private armed group (PAG). A company from the RPSB and the Regional Special Operations Task Group (RSOTG) was earlier deployed in Masbate to provide assistance to the local police in the peace and order campaign relative to the conduct of the upcoming midterm elections.

Some NPA groups, along with private armed groups (PAGs), are hired by certain some politicians in the island-province during election periods, consistently earning for Masbate the label as “election hot spot.” Masbate’s lone city and 14 of its 20 towns have been listed by the Bicol police and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as election hot spots in relation to the elections this year. Since the start of total gun ban implementation last Jan. 13, at least two PAGs in Masbate have been positively identified by the RSOTG.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=492992