Police and military authorities have sealed possible exit and entry points in northern Palawan to prevent fleeing armed members of the New People’s Army (NPA) who raided a pearl farm in the town of
Colonel Andrei Costales, commanding officer of the 3rd Marine Brigade stationed in this city, told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) that Western Command Maj. Gen. Rustico Guerrero has ordered them and troops belonging to the Marine Battalion Landing Team (MBLT) 4 to seal all exits and entry points north of the province.
“We have established checkpoints in several road areas in the north, and we’ve sent marine troops to piers, boat landing areas, wharfs, all points they might use to get out of the province,” Costales said, adding the marines will be working jointly with elements of the Palawan Provincial Police Office (PPPO) under Sr. Supt. Atanacio Macalan Jr.
Among the entry points that have now been tightly secured are Coron pier, since the armed NPAs are said to be from
The NPA group, numbering 17, were reportedly led by a man who introduced himself as only “Ka Arnel,” raided the pearl farm around 12:45 p.m. Monday.
The PPPO identified the six workers of the pearl farm as Marcelo Millado, Edgardo Ramos, Nestor Dula, Jovin Descartin, Villamor Hernandez and Marjun Diulon, who were briefly taken hostage as human shields and later abandoned on a beach. The six workers were able to get back to the farm around 4:00 p.m.
Costales said one of the angles they are investigating was that the raid was done after the NPAs maybe failed to collect “revolutionary tax” from the operator of the pearl farm, Jacques Branellec.
A hot pursuit operation remains on the armed group who were said to have fled towards the Calamianes Group of
Costales said the latest figure they have is that only about 40 members of the NPA are active in
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.