Cops, Army tighten watch on NPA turfs in C. Valley

CAMP ADDURU, Tuguegarao City – At least 39 barangays have been under strict monitoring for possible election-related violence due to the strong influence of the traditionally Maoist New People’s Army (NPA) in their midst, in preparation for tomorrow’s synchronized Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.

Chief Superintendent Ameto Tolentino, Cagayan Valley police director, said that joint police and Army teams have already been deployed to these communist-influenced barangays to ensure the peaceful conduct of elections in these places previously identified as election hot spots due to the presence of armed rebels.

“Yesterday, we had already sent several teams to the far flung villages identified as NPA-influenced election hot spots to ensure that the elections will be orderly and peaceful there,” he said.

Tolentino said their police contingents have been augmented by troops from the Army’s 5th Infantry Division. “There is no problem about this matter, since the Army had already been deputized earlier by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for tomorrow’s elections.”

Of the number of rebel-influenced or infiltrated barangays in the region, two are located in Quirino province while the rest are in the remote and mountain areas of Isabela and Cagayan, whose communist presence is still felt.

Tolentino said that the 39 NPA-influenced areas are part of the 51 critical barangays identified by the poll body in connection  with the elections.

It has been noted that the landlocked Nueva Vizcaya province and the island province of Batanes are free from any election hot spots. Region 2 has a total of 2,311 barangays.