NPAs cart away 17 firearms in Bulacan raid

MALOLOS CITY — Some 50 New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas raided a detachment of the Citizen Auxiliary Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) on an island-barangay in Obando, Bulacan last Friday afternoon, taking away 17 firearms, police said.

Chief Inspector Rizalino Andaya, Obando police chief, said no one was hurt in the raid in Barangay Binuangan, which occurred four days after some 30 insurgents clashed with soldiers in Barangay Camachin in Doña Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan.

Andaya said the rebels carted away 10 M-14 and two M-16 rifles, three Carbines and two Garand rifles during the Obando raid.

Obando is one of Bulacan’s five coastal towns, serving as backdoor to Pampanga and Bataan, where communist rebels roam freely due to less police and military presence in these areas.

Meanwhile, the provincial police director of Isabela had been relieved following last Tuesday’s raid by NPA rebels on the police headquarters of Dinapigue town.

On orders of Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Arturo Lomibao, Senior Superintendent Percival Barba was stripped of his position as Isabela police director last Wednesday, a day after some 50 rebels swooped down on the police station of the remote coastal town of Dinapigue and carted away several firearms.

Chief Superintendent Jefferson Soriano, Cagayan Valley police director, said more police personnel would be fielded in remote towns in the region, especially coastal areas, in the wake of the Dinapigue raid.

Senior Superintendent Oscar Fiesta, chief of the regional police directorial staff, replaced Barba in an acting capacity.

The police chief of Dinapigue, together with three of his men who were on duty during the raid, was also relieved from his post. 

Soriano said they are now being investigated for possible negligence.

The rebels, who arrived on board two logging trucks, raided the Dinapigue police station at about 5:30 p.m. last Tuesday and carted away four M-16 and two M-14 rifles and three shotguns.

Recently, communist rebels also raided a police detachment in Baggao, Cagayan, divesting the policemen on duty of their service firearms.

Lomibao is scheduled to inaugurate today the new police stations, each costing P3 million, of the Isabela towns of Gamu, Naguillan and Tumauini. — With Charlie Lagasca, Ric Sapnu and Jaime Laude