Monday, September 2, 2013

Police clears tourism town from NPA rebels

From the Philippine News Agency (Sep 2): Police clears tourism town from NPA rebels

The government forces cleared in two days this weekend Sagada, Mountain Province, a tourism town some 100 kilometers north of Baguio City, from remnants of the community insurgency movement including an apparent New People's Army (NPA) camp.

Police Chief Supt. Benjamin Magalong, regional director of the Police Regional Office Cordillera (PROCOR) said the seige of the rebel camp started last August 30 and it was only late Saturday when the Philippine National Police (PNP) and a unit of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) confirmed that the rebels were dislodged from their stronghold.

Two policemen of an elite PROCOR unit were wounded in the two-day gunbattle. They both survived and were duly assisted by the government.

It remains unclear if the enemy side suffered any casualty. Government troopers estimated they encountered in that area between 20 to 30 armed rebels.

The police force was able to penetrate the NPA camp after the air force contingent bombed the immediate environs. Investigators are still in the area examining items left by the rebels.

Because of its tourism potentials in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Sagada has been declared before as a "peace zone" in order that visitors can freely roam around the beautiful town known for its unique temperate fruits like apples and persimmon, as well as caves with underground streams.

An average of more than 20,000 local and foreign tourists go to that area which is among the leading eco-tourism sites in the Cordilleras.

A peace zone in the region is where the soldiers and rebels alike are prohibited to have belligerent actions in the area including the bearing of firearms.

This matter reached the authorities which moved the PROCOR to investigate in the area. They were in this investigation when they were fired upon in Barangay Agid, Sagada, Mountain Province.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=561308

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