‘People fed up with NPA extortion, evil schemes’

From the Manila Times (Feb 3): ‘People fed up with NPA extortion, evil schemes’

Fed up with extortion activities of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Abra province, residents of Laga-ngilang tipped off the authorities of the presence of the communist rebels in the area resulting in a gun battle on Wednesday.

Col. Eliseo Posadas, commander of the 503rd Brigade based in Abra in a message said: “the information on the presence of armed NPA bandits was tipped off by the scared people due to their threats and intimidation.”

“People are fed up with their deceptive evil schemes,” Posadas added.

Posadas said, on or about 9:45 a.m., on January 30, two sections from the 41th Infantry Battalion encountered some 22-armed rebels.

“The bandits came for the barangay fiesta to extort money and foraging activities at Sitio Malipit, Barangay Cayapa,” Possadas said.

According to Posadas, authorities were able to recover an M-16 armalite, an icom radio, on sack of rice, one sack of kitchen utensils and subversive and documents.

Pursuit operations are ongoing, he said.

http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/news/regions/40716-people-fed-up-with-npa-extortion-evil-schemes