NPA rebel dies as cops repulse police station attack; 4 soldiers die in pursuit operations

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 16): NPA rebel dies as cops repulse police station attack; 4 soldiers die in pursuit operations

Police Regional Office Region 11 (PRO-11) spokesperson Sr. Supt. Antonio Rivera said there was good coordination between the police and military on the planned NPA attack.

Rivera said that on February 6, a memorandum was sent to all police stations warning them of the possible attack.

He said there could be more damage if the attack was not repulsed. Rivera said there were about 37 police personnel inside the police precinct during the attack.

The AFP had declared Davao Oriental insurgency-free. When sought why such attack happened, Baladad said the rebels were not from Davao Oriental although there were some sightings in border areas.

Likewise, Col. Bienvenido Datuin, commanding officer of the Philippine Army’s 701st Infantry Division, said the simultaneous “terror attack” by the communist rebels here on Sunday evening was the rebels’ desperate way of saying “that they are still a force to reckon with” after the “insurgency-free” declaration.

Meanwhile, the chief of police of Mati City, Supt. Benito Recopuerto, said at least 50 NPA rebels stormed the Mati police station around 7 p.m. Sunday.

He said the heavily armed rebels who were in military uniforms were on board a six-wheeler truck and two vans. Two rebels who first went inside the two-storey police station disguised themselves as civilians who were out to surrender “two kilos of shabu” they claimed to have seized from unnamed individuals.

A few seconds later, policemen saw heavily armed men alighting from a covered six-wheeler truck and two vans and then barged inside the police station.

“Then they shouted: ‘You surrender’ as they strafed the police station. My men have put up a fight. One of the attackers is killed and they brought along with them their wounded comrades,” Supt. Recopuerto said. He said at least 30 policemen were on duty during the attack.

For her part, Davao Oriental Governor Corazon Malanyaon during a press briefing at the provincial Capitol in Mati City regarding the repulsed attack on the police station, said, “They (NPA rebels) made an attempt but they did not succeed. They tried but they failed”.

On the other hand, Mati City Mayor Carlo Rabat said the biggest sports event of Southern Mindanao which is slated here on February 24 to 28 will push through despite the attack.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=736185