Police to launch anti-insurgency campaign

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 7): Police to launch anti-insurgency campaign

The city’s police command would start minor and major anti-insurgency operations here after the government declared the end of the ceasefire with the communist rebels, a police officer said Tuesday.

Police Chief Inspector Marde Hortaleza, of the Cagayan De Oro City Police, said the local police command would also arrest the political consultants of the National Democratic Front (NDF) who were facing criminal charges.

“We are waiting for the official list of the NDF consultants who were earlier released to join the failed peace negotiation in Oslo, Norway,” Hortaleza said.

He said the local police would also ask for additional policemen from the Regional Service Battalion for deployment in the city’s outskirt villages here.

The local police command, however, would need a formal request through a resolution from the city council for the additional police force, Hortaleza said.

Hortaleza admitted that some unidentified armed men believed to be members of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels had been sighted in the outskirt villages of the city’s west district recently.

He said a regular patrol would be conducted in order to discourage the unidentified armed men from sowing fears among village residents here.

Hortaleza said the additional police force would also augment the regular police force in running after illegal drug personalities and other criminal elements.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=961617