CAFGUs sent to 3 Ifugao towns to block NPA force

LAGAWE, Ifugao — Police and military authorities here approved the deployment of para-military forces in three remote towns of this province in to stop New People’s Army rebels from setting up camp in the tri-boundaries of Ifugao, Benguet, and Nueva Vizcaya.

Senior Supt. Joseph Adnol, provincial police director, said the deployment of members of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit in the towns of Aipulo, Hungduan, and Tinoc was in anticipation of the rebel plan to put up a camp in the area to advance the interest of the communist movement and influence the residents in the remote towns, especially in the forthcoming May 2010 elections.

Earlier, combined police and military forces arrested four NPA rebels during an encounter in a remote area of Tinoc town after at least 40 heavily armed men engaged the government troops in a running gunbattle.

At the same time, another NPA rebel reportedly surrendered to police and military personnel based in the province and divulged the plan of the communist movement to set up a training camp in one of the remotest part of the three towns.

For his part, Brig. Gen. Rommel Gomez, commanding officer of the 5th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army based in Gamo, Isabela, approved the deployment of one company of CAFGU in the vicinity of the three towns to serve as a deterrent to the efforts of the communist movement in trying to influence the residents into believing in their ideology which is not in accordance with the norms of peaceful living.

Aside from working on the assignment of more military and para-military forces in strategic areas in the region in preparation for the upcoming May 2010 elections, Gomez said the government forces will also play an important role in the implementation of community-based activities so that people will be encouraged to abandon their support to the ideology of the communist movement.