PNP unearths NPA plan to attack 6 police stations

CABANATUAN CITY — The Philippine National Police (PNP) yesterday has uncovered a plan of the New People’s Army (NPA) to stage armed attacks in at least six police stations in Nueva Ecija, including the municipal police station in Gen. Natividad town where rebel guerrillas staged an assault in the late ’80s.

Chief Supt. Oscar Calderon, PNP Region III director, said that police in municipalities located in the boundaries of Nueva Ecija and Aurora have now been placed on full alert to preempt possible attacks by the rebels particularly in Gen. Natividad.

Intelligence reports from the police showed that NPA rebels under a certain Marivic Lagasca alias Ka Salve are planning to attack the Gen. Natividad police station "at an appropriate time." Lagasca is the head of the Kilusang Larangang Guerrilla (KLG), the biggest of the four NPA divisions operating in the province. She is the wife of Leopoldo Lagasca whom police killed in an encounter in Barangay Populon, Palayan City last year.

Also being targeted by the rebels are police stations in Bongabon, Laur, Gabaldon, Pantabangan and Rizal towns, reports said. In Gabaldon town, police have reported sightings of 40 NPA rebels in Barangay Malinao last Sunday.

Chief Inspector Rhoderick Armamento, chief of the Nueva Ecija PNP’s provincial intelligence and investigation branch (PIIB), said the DENR people were checking on cut logs in Malinao when they sighted the rebels. Armamento said that Lagasca’s group is using heavily tinted and unlicensed vans in their operations.

Calderon said that they have joined forces with the Army to beef up police strength in these areas to thwart possible NPA offensives.

He said policemen in the province had been advised to guard against people wearing military and police uniforms posing as lawmen. He said that this is the tactic usually being employed by NPAs in staging raids of police stations. "We have told our men that they should be on the watch against NPA rebels posing as military or policemen. Those visiting police stations should be riding Army vehicles, otherwise we presume they are not lawmen," he said.

The town of Gen. Natividad gained notoriety when some 50 fully-armed rebels raided the police station and disarmed the six policemen on duty in the late ’80s. Reports said that before entering the police station, the leader of the rebel band told the police they were there to coordinate with lawmen supposedly for the conduct of patrol operations. The lawmen were however spared by the rebels.

Police Senior Supt. Roberto Damian, chief of the Regional Operations and Planning Division, said that the NPA threat cannot be taken lightly. "There is no surefire information. We have what we call A-1 and B-2 information but we always treat information seriously, with caution. There is no such thing as insignificant information," he said. "In fact, you don’t know where the next incident will happen and we are facing faceless enemies," he said.

Calderon said that what the PNP needs is community support to thwart these terroristic acts by the NPAs. "In fact, many are reporting to us. They are tired of NPA atrocities," he said.