Reds’ plan to attack police station a diversionary tactic, says Army
The Philippine Army considered the information on alleged plans of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) to raid the municipal police station of Tubungan as a “diversionary tactic.”
Lt. Col George Joel Lalaquil, 82nd Infantry Battalion (82IB) commander, said the information being floated that the rebels will overtake the Tubungan police station was meant to divert the attention of the government troops currently in pursuit of fleeing rebels.
Information on the rebels’ alleged attempt to take over the police station was bolstered after shots were heard Friday. No confirmation was made by the army and the police over the alleged plan of the rebels. To recall, Tubungan municipal police station was taken over by rebels several years ago.
The mountain areas of Igbaras and Tubungan, located in the boundary of the adjoining Antique province, are known lairs of the Southern Front Committee of the Panay Regional Party Committee of the New Peoples Army.
In an interview over dySI Super Radyo, Lalaquil said it is possible that the rebels want the government forces to redirect their operations from the hinterlands to the town proper after a group of rebels was trapped in two areas in Igbaras. They will create incidents to drive the army from leaving their target areas in the mountain ranges, he said.
He did not categorically say the exact location where the rebels are confined as it will affect the ongoing military operation.
The army soldiers were able to overrun two military camps after the government troops encountered some 20 rebels in Barangay Tigbanaba in Igbaras Wednesday last week.
The rebels fled towards the forested portion of Barangay Tigbanaba after two of their camps were overran by government troops. They have no more food supplies based on the information provided by the residents to the army. They are holed in the area, said Lalaquil.
The capture of the rebel camps was made following an operation conducted by the army soldiers against the fleeing rebels whom they had encountered Wednesday morning at Sitio Buyuan, Tigbanaba.
Lalaquil added the rebels have to conduct tactical offensives in “soft targets” such as municipal police station and CAFGU detachment to divert the attention of the operating troops in the town of Igbaras.
Preventive measures are already in-place to defend the para-military detachments and police stations against any rebel attacks. They have been alerted for possible rebel offensives.
The government troops will not cease from pursuing the fleeing rebels until everything is finished, said Lalaquil.