NPAs to face charges for Maasin police station raid

From the Philippine News Agency (Jun 19): NPAs to face charges for Maasin police station raid

New People's Army (NPA) rebels based in Panay who raided the police station in Maasin town Sunday morning will face charges, according to an official of Police Regional Office (PRO) 6.

PRO-6 spokesperson Gilbert Gorero on Monday described the incident as purely a "criminal act" and they are currently contemplating to file robbery and car theft charges against the rebels for stealing various properties of the police station and personal belongings of policemen on duty.

Based on the progress report on the inventory of lost items at the police station released by PRO-6 this afternoon, rebels have taken 11 M16 armalite rifle, 11 M16 mag loaded with cartridges, 11 short mag loaded with cartridges, two glock 9mm pistol mag loaded with cartridge, a Cal. 38 Super Colt Pistol with mag loaded of cartridge, a 9mm Beretta pistol with mag loaded with cartridge, Icom Base radio, seven Motorola portable handheld radio, a hilux patrol car, five rig with handcuffs, non-drug inventory logbook, all non-drug items kept inside the evidence cabinet and two pairs of GOA Type A uniform.

Personal belongings taken from the policemen on duty were cash money of more or less PHP18,000, gold bracelet worth PHP16,000, laptop worth PHP20,000, wallet with ATM and IDs, G-shock worth PHP6,000, a laptop and Lenovo cellphone, Iphone 5S worth PHP30,000, a Samsung phone and PHP10,000 worth of cash.

Gorero also confirmed that all 23 policemen assigned at Maasin police station were already sacked, including the nine who were on duty yesterday and police station chief, Senior Inspector Ray Cordero.

Meanwhile, Gorero reminded all tactical commanders, unit commanders, the provincial directors in Western Visayas of the "lesson learned" from the incident.

He instructed police forces specifically the tactical commanders in the region to come up with "initiatives and think out of the box" action to secure their assignment area.

Police forces in Western Visayas is still under "full alert" status, said Gorero.

While the Sunday incident has caused fear and tension among citizens, especially among the residents of Maasin town, Gorero assured the police are doing their best for the people of Maasin and the whole of Western Visayas.

"But of course we are asking for reciprocal obligation coming from the citizens and that is their active participation," Gorero stressed.

An estimated 50 rebels raided the police station in Maasin town on Sunday morning, leaving nine policemen on duty handcuffed.

Police forces recovered the patrol car they used to flee from the police station at Barangay Cagay, Alimodian, Iloilo but none of them were arrested.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/996243