It looks like we’re in a war zone — Calaca mayor

CALACA, Batangas — Describing the recent New People’s Army (NPA) attack on a military detachment guarding the Calaca power plant as an "isolated case," this town’s mayor has bewailed the increased military presence here following the incident.

"It looks like we are in a war zone," said Mayor Jerry Katigbak said of the many soldiers deployed here and the checkpoints set up along all roads leading to barangays tagged as rebel-infiltrated.

The Jan. 10 attack left four Air Force men and three guerrillas dead. Elements of the 740th Combat Group of the Air Force and militiamen guarding the 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant repulsed the rebels after an hour-and-a-half clash.

The assault prompted the Armed Forces to beef up its presence here and tighten security in other vital installations nationwide.

But Katigbak said the increased military presence here "brings anxiety to the business community."

"What will an investor think when he enters Calaca and sees the (soldiers), with their long firearms and grenades tucked in their waists, checking every vehicle that passes through the checkpoints?" he said.

"With their (soldiers’) presence, it only signifies that there is a distortion of the peace and order (situation) in our town," he added.

Katigbak said multimillion-peso investments can go down the drain if the town’s "militarization" continues.

Instead of military personnel, he said he prefers the police to "man our town because of (their) familiarity with our 70,000 constituents."

"The Philippine National Police just has to increase its personnel here and add some logistics. I am confident they can handle any situation," he said.

Katigbak said he believes that the NPA merely targeted the military detachment and not the power plant being run by the National Power Corp. (Napocor).

"This is a war between the NPA and the military. They (NPAs) have nothing against the Napocor," he said.

If the rebels were indeed aiming to disrupt the operations of Napocor, he said they could have simply destroyed transmission towers unguarded by the military.

But Lt. Gen. Efren Orbon, commander of the Army’s 202nd Infantry Brigade, believes otherwise.

"If they (rebels) were aiming at the military detachment, how come we were able to recover an anti-tank grenade launcher from a dead rebel, just in front of the Napocor’s gate?" Orbon said.

He said soldiers also found drums of gasoline, anti-tank rockets and blasting caps in a truck used by the rebels who, he said, could utilize them to blow up the power plant.

"We are here because the Napocor asked us to be here. We came here to protect the people and not for anything else," Orbon said.

"Now if the mayor does not want us here, then just tell me and we will leave at once," he added.