EDITORIAL - Law enforcement failure

Oops, excuse us – this was what the New People’s Army had to say after a driver and his brother were killed in an NPA ambush on the convoy of Gingoog Mayor Ruth Guingona last Saturday night. Guingona, wife of former vice president Teofisto Guingona Jr. and mother of the senator, was wounded in the attack and was trapped in her overturned vehicle for five hours before she was rescued. Two of her police escorts were also wounded.

The NPA apologized for the deaths of civilians and claimed the gunmen opened fire because Guingona’s convoy had refused to stop at a rebel “checkpoint.” An NPA spokesman announced yesterday that candidates “should secure permission and coordinate with our local forces when entering our area, and they should also not have armed escorts.” The spokesman said Guingona was warned about the possibility of an attack.

Hurray for Guingona for ignoring bandits, but she should have been sufficiently prepared to foil any armed attack. The NPA has no claim to any part of Philippine territory. The group, whose ideology has been widely discredited around the globe, has been reduced to extortion for “revolutionary taxes” and banditry. Its attacks on private businesses have hindered development efforts and scared away investors, ensuring that NPA-infested areas remain mired in poverty. Its extortion of “permit-to-campaign fees” and fund-raising at gunpoint for its preferred candidates undermine free elections in a democracy.

The NPA is the country’s largest illegal armed group and should have been neutralized a long time ago. The group has no compunctions about killing security forces and civilians alike, and even its own members. It certainly knows that bullets sprayed into a convoy of vehicles do not distinguish between civilians and state security forces.

These bandits have the gall to issue warnings to public officials and stage attacks, set up their own checkpoints and flout the election gun ban because they can. The ambush on Guingona’s convoy is a failure of law enforcement and the state’s mandate to keep the public safe.