Reyes: Replace entire Army battalion in Abra

Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes has asked the Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces to replace an entire Army battalion deployed in Abra in line with his department’s efforts to address lawlessness in the northern province.

Reyes acted on the recommendation of Task Force Abra to replace the entire police and military forces in the province "for becoming too familiar and too friendly" with political warlords there.

Earlier, Reyes, as concurrent chairman of the National Police Commission, ordered the entire 529-man Abra police force replaced. This time, he wants the Army’s 41st Infantry Battalion replaced, too.

Earlier, Army chief Lt. Gen. Generoso Senga, however, said there was no reason to replace the entire 41st IB.

"So far, there are no complaints. And if there (are any), we will look into (them). We will investigate," he said.

Abra, a component province of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), has been rocked by killings blamed on private armies maintained by local politicians. A DILG fact-finding team faulted both the local police and military for failing to curb this lawlessness.

Another reason for Reyes’ request to the DND and Armed Forces was the alleged involvement of Lt. Col. Noel Mislang, relieved commander of the 41st IB, in the supposed plot to kill Lagayan, Abra Mayor Cecilia Luna and members of her family.

The slay plot did not materialize after two soldiers, Corporals Antonio Rosqueta and Eduardo Barcelona, refused to carry it out.

Instead, the two informed their Army higher-ups about the slay plot. They quoted Mislang as saying that the governor, apparently referring to Abra Gov. Vicente Valera, had been pressuring him about it. Valera has denied the allegations.

Rosqueta was killed while Barcelona was wounded in a supposed ambush in Isabela late last year, an attack which the former’s widow and the latter blamed on Mislang and Valera in the complaints they filed with the Office of the Ombudsman.

Mislang is now facing pre-trial investigation.

Meanwhile, Abra Rep. Luis Bersamin denied the existence of private armies in the province.

"There’s no private army in Abra. It’s only the Philippine Army (that’s there)," he said.

Despite his denial, Bersamin endorsed Reyes’ decision to strip Valera and Abra’s 27 municipal mayors of the power to choose local police chiefs.

He and 15 other congressmen have filed House Bill 3034 amending Republic Act 6975, or the Philippine National Police law, to empower the PNP chief to appoint provincial police directors and for regional police directors to designate city and town police chiefs.

For his part, Valera said he respects Reyes’ decision. "I have full faith and confidence in (PNP chief) Director General Arturo Lomibao who will be the implementor of the order," he said.

However, Valera, who is a lawyer, said he still has to determine if such an order was properly done according to government processes.

On the suspension of his power to appoint the provincial police director, Valera said, "They would have to appraise me on (that). I want to find out if it had gone through the process... I should be given the chance to prove my side."

The new Abra police director, Senior Superintendent Danilo Empedrad, vowed to go after private armies of politicians until he totally rids Abra of them. — With Teddy Molina, Artemio Dumlao and Myds Supnad