Benguet towns watched for rebel activity

La Trinidad, Benguet – Four of the 13 towns here in Benguet province are being closely watched by security forces, especially by the Philippine National Police (PNP) for possible flashpoints in the May elections because of reported New People’s Army (NPA) sightings.

Senior Superintendent Moro Lazo, Benguet police director, said the mining towns of Mankayan, Bakun, Kibungan and Kapangan, all in the northern hinterland part of the province, are being tightly watched although they are not yet considered "special areas of concern" by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Lazo said they want to monitor the towns because of past NPA movements in these areas.

On Feb. 4, 2005, at least 60 heavily armed NPA guerrillas swooped down on a small Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) detachment in Cabiten, Mankayan nd carted away high-powered weapons and killed three militiamen.

Intelligence agents later found that rebels also prepositioned claymore mines along several routes of government reinforcements to Mankayan.

Bakun town, one of the hardest-to-reach by land towns in Benguet, is also a known lair of NPA rebels crossing from adjacent southern Ilocos Sur and Mountain Province.

Lazo, however, said they have not recorded any election-related hostilities yet.