NPAs raid Palawan cop station; 1 dead, 1 hurt

MANILA, Philippines - Heavily armed New People’s Army (NPA) rebels raided a police station in Palawan yesterday morning, killing a policeman and wounding another.

Lt. Gen. Juancho Sabban, commander of the Armed Forces’ Western Command, has deployed his men with the backing of a helicopter gunship and an OV-10 reconnaissance plane to track down the rebels, who after passing themselves off as soldiers, raided and briefly took control of the Roxas municipal police station at around 10 a.m. yesterday.

Two of the policemen manning the station tried to resist but were gunned down by the rebels. One of them was killed on the spot while the other is now in critical condition in a local hospital.

The rebels reportedly gained entry into the police station unchallenged because the policemen mistook them for real soldiers, as they wore military uniforms, out to turn over a crime suspect to them.

Upon their escape, the rebels carted away at least eight high-powered firearms.

They also left pamphlets in the police station declaring that they launched the raid in retaliation for the Roxas police’s aggressive campaign against small-scale mining activities in the area.

Pursuing Marines and policemen recovered the rebels’ getaway van that was abandoned along a dirt road leading to a nearby mountain. – Jaime Laude, Cecille Suerte Felipe