Liga chief to brgy officials, locals: 'Stay away from NPAs, they are criminals.'
There is no excuse nor amount of justification that would explain the terror waged by communist terrorists New People's Army (NPA) in Calinog, Iloilo. As such, there is no excuse nor any amount of justification from any barangay official and barangay folk to tolerate, sympathize and cuddle members of the communist rebel group.
This was the statement of Board Member Angelo Briones, president of the Provincial Federation of the Liga ng mga Barangay amidst reports that Saturday's senseless NPA attack could have availed of 'community support.'
Worse, latest accounts appear to validate a well-planned attack that primarily used residents of two barangays to use army troopers and Scout Rangers under the 47th Infantry Batallion and the 33rd Reconnaissance Company. Nine army soldiers lost their lives and twenty others remain confined in an army hospital in Cebu in an NPA tactical offensive off the hinterland barangays of Calinog.
The safety and security of at least thirty households were also compromised as a result of said terroristic attack early Saturday evening.
To date, tension remains in the scene of the incident and surrounding barangays as government troops continue to scour the area with the army hierarchy bent on getting the communist rebels.
'How can they participate in a war which claims lives? What the NPAs are doing is a criminal act so how can they justify their undertaking? I condemn what happened,' Briones began in a The News Today (TNT) interview.
Said Liga president has called on the barangay officials of Barangay Mambiranan and boundary-Barangay Catagan for a dialogue. This, Briones said, will directly address his concern of NPA coddlers in the community. It was not immediately clear under what conditions Briones would extend the message however Liga insiders told TNT that a 'stern warning' is out to those known to be sympathetic to the NPA cause.
Independent TNT sources also validated earlier information that point to a top barangay official and a number of key barangay personalities who have since been organic members of the Communist Party of the Philippines' legal fronts here.