Philippine National Police chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde yesterday ordered the deployment of more than 300 SAF troops to Negros Island to augment the local police in anti-criminality and internal security operations, following the spate of killings in Negros Oriental.
As Albayalde made the announcement to deploy SAF troopers in Negros, troopers of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion 7 yesterday figured in an encounter with a group of suspected New People’s Army rebels in Sitio Upper Talampakan, Brgy.Nalundan, Bindoy town.
The running gunbattle lasted for about 20 minutes, and prompted the NPA rebels to withdraw in separate directions. None of the police troopers were injured.
SAF troopers, numbering more than 300 which is equivalent to one battalion, will augment the two Army Infantry battalions that returned to Negros from Mindanao, in the past months.
Albayalde said, the SAF troopers will augment local police units in anti-criminality and internal security operations against elements and dissident terrorist groups operating in the provinces of Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental.
There are now two companies of the SAF deployed in northern Negros, with another company is deployed in Panay.
The death toll in Negros Oriental killings since July 18 rose to 22 on Sunday, as another man was shot dead in Brgy. Panubigan, Canlaon City, where Councilor Ramon Jalandoni and barangay chairman Ernesto Posadas had also been shot and killed, a day earlier.
Albayalde said he was told by Brig. Gen. Debold Sinas, regional police director of Central Visayas, that their hot pursuit operations, together with the AFP, are continuing, and that they are looking into all these killings.
He added that the local communist rebels are responsible for the series of killings.
The spate of killings occurred after four RMFB 7intelligence operatives of were tortured and killed in Barangay Mabato in Ayungon town on July 18.
“There is also the possibility that the four police officers were tortured and summarily executed and there is also a scheme on the part of the CPP-NPA where they sacrifice their own and then blame government forces for alleged human rights violation. They are also pointing to government forces for these killings,” he said.
In some of the killings, the gunmen would barge into the house of their target and would leave spray-painted graffiti indicating that the NPA is claiming responsibility, Albayalde said.
"This is part of their propaganda. They execute their own and blame the government for it," he added.
During the Provincial Peace and Order Council meeting in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo activated the Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (PTF-ELCAC).
The creation and activation of the task force by Degamo, is in compliance with the Executive Order Number 70 - 2018 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte (National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict NTF-ELCAC), as a holistic solution employing a whole-of-nation approach in addressing the root causes of insurgency to ensure peace and security in the province, following the series of killings last week.
Brig. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander (covering 1st District Negros Oriental) and Brig. Gen. Ignacio Madriaga, 302nd Brigade Commander (covering 2nd & 3rd Districts Negros Oriental), both expressed their confidence that the newly created task force will boost the campaign against CPP-NPA-NDF and prevent further killings in the province.
The Diocese of Dumaguete is spearheading a multi-sectoral dialog on July 31 at the Marian Priests’ Center at the Cathedral Compound in Dumaguete City, Bishop Julito Ortiz, who was alarmed by the escalating events of senseless violence, killings and horrible deaths in Negros Island recently, said.
“Let us come together to take stock of the spate of killings in our province, to mindfully listen to each other on how these greatly affected us, to reflectively discern and galvanize possible intersectoral collaboration to support our local government in fulfilling its obligations, to conduct prompt investigation on these killings, to bring to justice the perpetrators, and to prevent the recurrence of these violent inhumane acts,” he said.
The Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura, a local affiliate of Kilusang Magbubukid sa Pilipinas, reported having recorded 87 extra-judicial killings in Negros since 2017, under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The United Church of Christ in the Philippines- West Visayas Jurisdictional Area also condemned the killings in Negros Oriental.
http://www.visayandailystar.com/2019/July/30/topstory3.htm
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