Centcom belies rebel sightings in Cebu towns alleged NPA rebels were just "habol" (blanket) vendors

CEBU, Philippines - The reported armed sightings in two southwestern towns in Cebu – Pinamungajan and Aloguinsan – are merely a false alarm.

The reported armed sightings in two southwestern towns in Cebu – Pinamungajan and Aloguinsan – are merely a false alarm.

Central Command spokesperson Lt. Col. Christopher Tampus said that Cebu province remains to be insurgency free and safe from the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

According to Tampus, the 78th Infantry Battalion has checked into the reported armed rebels landing in Pinamungajan and Aloguinsan early this month and found out to be false.

The report came from ANAD Party-list Rep. Pastor Alcover Jr. who urged the police and the military to beef up their intelligence work against the NPA for possible penetration.

“These are merely false reports,” Tampus said.

According to the report of 78th IB Commanding Officer Lt. Col. Nolasco Mempin, the military have checked, monitored and verified the report of Alcover but concluded that there are no armed sightings.

“Based on their regular monitoring and intelligence networking, the people seen in the area, not the local folks, are going around the place only to sell “habol” and other items,” Tampus said.

Tampus said tourists, both foreign and local, as well as investors and most of all, the residents can breathe easily and live peacefully because we will not allow the rebels to camp back here again. 

“The possibility that NPA’s will again haunt Cebu is very remote because the political leadership in the province led by Gov. Garcia is very strong and she has the total support and commitment of the local government units here on the total declaration of war against the NPAs,” Tampus said.

Tampus said Cebu and Bohol have already been declared insurgency-free. He said that only Negros Oriental in Central Visayas remains infested by armed rebels.

 “We are targeting a timeline of first quarter next year to make Negros Oriental insurgency-free,” Tampus added.

Last month, at least 17 armed rebels surrendered back to the folds of the government while the military captured three rebels and recovered seven high-powered firearms.

“Our assessment is that the Komiteng Rehiyon Sentral Bisaya (KR-SB) under Roy Erecre based in Negros Oriental is slowly crumbling because of the lack of strong leadership and dwindling sympathy from the masses which resulted to rebels deciding to surrender to the government. Also, our political leadership in Negros Oriental is strongly taking action on the war against insurgency,” Tampus said.

 What used to be 65 percent in strength before of the NPA in the province of Negros has weakened to 30 percent today, Tampus said saying that the military officer credited it to “extreme pressure, combat and non-combat operations which include development projects together with the local government units and the rebel returnees.”

 “There are only five barangays left that are categorized as red infiltrated areas,” Tampus said, but reused to divulge the name of the barangays.

Tampus said because of the declining strength of the NPA in Negros Oriental, the KR-SB is now looking for possible areas to transfer.

“We are checking into reports of unarmed sightings in Bohol and Leyte and we are strengthening our intelligence operations against these unverified reports,” he added.

 In Bohol, there are still issues on land ownership which could be exploited by the NPA to recruit locals in the area, according to Tampus. But he clarified that the NPAs cannot penetrate Bohol once again because they no longer have the sympathy of the people and the strong political leadership is also a huge factor. – (FREEMAN)