SAF troops seize NPA arms cache in Palawan

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 12, 2021): SAF troops seize NPA arms cache in Palawan (By Priam Nepomuceno)

Joint operations conducted by the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) and other security forces resulted in the recovery of a New People's Army (NPA) arms cache in northern Palawan over the weekend.

In a statement on Tuesday, PNP chief Gen. Debold Sinas said troops from the SAF's 101st Special Action Company, members of the Police Regional Office 4B (Mimaropa), and military troops seized high-powered firearms and other war materiel in Sitio Lanka, Barangay Bintuan, Coron, Palawan at around 4 a.m. of Jan. 9.

Recovered were two M-16 assault rifles, four rifle grenades, magazine assemblies, a bandolier, and 184 rounds of M-16 ammunition.

"The continuous operations of our troops have resulted in the NPA’s weakened state. The latest confiscation of this cache of high-powered firearms further incapacitates their key operatives," Sinas said.

He also commended the SAF for their successive efforts implementing President Rodrigo R. Duterte's Executive Order 70 which aims to end the local communist armed conflict.

Sinas said the operation stemmed from intelligence information gathered by government troops regarding the whereabouts of the NPA’s cache of firearms and war materials in the area.

He added that two M-16 rifles will be subjected to procedural ballistics examination to determine if these had been used in previous crime incidents.

The NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1127076