NPA owns roadside blast in Tubungan

From Panay News (Jan 3, 2021): NPA owns roadside blast in Tubungan (By Ruby Silubrico)

The New People’s Army (NPA) took responsibility on the landmine explosion targeting a police patrol car in Barangay Balicua, Tubungan, Iloilo.

The admission recently came in a letter from the NPA’s Napoleon Tumagtang Command.

The communist group admitted they were behind the Dec. 17 attack, nine days before they celebrated the 52nd anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

The harassment, according to the rebels, was a reminder to the police of their disdain for the National-Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.

Police Lieutenant Jose Romel Samson, police chief of Tubungan, and his men were on board a Hilux patrol car in Barangay Balicua when the landmine detonated around 2:45 p.m.

All police personnel on board escaped unhurt and returned to their station, but the patrol car incurred broken windows on the driver’s side and holes and scratches on the left side.

NPA’s admission of the attack was no surprise, said Major Cenon Pancito III, spokesperson of the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division.

Pancito said rebels violating the International Humanitarian Law only showed “how coward they were.”

“While the incident may sound alarming to the ordinary people, to us in the Army, the incident showed the decay of their organization,” Pancito pointed out.

With the community’s continued support to the government forces, Pancito warned rebels that their days are numbered.

Tubungan, according to Pancito, is part of the area of operation of the NPA’s Southern Front, Kilusang Rehiyon Panay. It is a strategic place for the NPA rebels to hide because of its mountainous terrain.

The town had been identified as “vulnerable” to the NPA, the armed wing of the CPP./PN

http://www.panaynews.net/npa-owns-roadside-blast-in-tubungan/