PA Banias: ‘RPA-ABB checkpoints illegal’
Armed men believed to be members of the once dreaded Revolutionary Proletariat Army – Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA- ABB) are reportedly conducting checkpoints in one Iloilo town.
The group is currently in the middle of a longstanding peace talk with the Philippine Government following the split with its ‘mother’ organization, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Yet within the RPA-ABB hierarchy itself, another split apparently occurred thus dividing the group into a mainstream RPA-ABB and the break-away RPA-ABB.
For Presidential Assistant Raul Banias, any and all possession of firearms by the members particularly in the conduct of checkpoints is clearly illegal. It is also a violation of the conditions set and agreed upon by the government peace panel and the RPA-ABB itself.
As such, Presidential Assistant Banias requested for an immediate investigation with a personal call made to Chief Superintendent Isagani Cuevas, Police Regional Office (PRO 6) director.
“I got a call from Janiuay Mayor Ben Margarico regarding the presence of the armed men conducting checkpoints in Barangay Bongol, Sitio Monark. It happened that I was with General Cuevas then so I immediately asked that the matter be checked. I was told thereafter that Senior Superintendent Ricardo Dela Paz sent a team to Janiuay,” Banias said in a The News Today (TNT) interview yesterday. “That is not allowed. They (referring to the RPA-ABB) are not allowed to carry firearms and conduct the checkpoints. If proven, that is a violation of the peace talks.”
In Western Visayas, said peace negotiation is under the office of Banias with amnesty and certain immunities granted to RPA-ABB members.
Yet again, the armed checkpoints, Banias stressed, are clearly not among the “benefits” of the RPA-ABB alongside possession of firearms by its members.
Captain Lowen Gil Marquez of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) here told TNT that at least ten RPA-ABB men were sighted.
“…they were using high-powered firearms such as M14, M4 and 12 gauge-shotgun. They also stayed in the house of one group member… the checkpoints started about 10 p.m. Tuesday evening until about 10 a.m. the next day…,” Captain Marquez said.
Marquez is the commanding officer of the AFP’s 3rd Civil Relations Group.
“The fact that there is now a ‘break-away’ faction is making the peace talks more complicated,” Presidential Assistant Banias added. “But police investigation is going on and I have also talked to the other RPA-ABB group who likewise reported to me the same incident.”