Police, military go after NPA for ambushing gov

01/13/2009

Elements of the police and the military yesterday launched a manhunt for members of the communist rebel group New People’s Army (NPA) after two of them were tagged as among those who staged the ambush on the convoy of Masbate province Gov. Elisa Kho on Sunday in Cataingan town, Masbate.

Kho, however, escaped with her life as she merely incurred superficial cuts in the attack. A security escort of hers was also injured in the incident.

In a press briefing at Camp Simeon Ola in Legazpi City yesterday, Bicol Police Regional Office Director, Chief Supt. Paterno Banggi, identified two of the suspects in the ambush as one Joel Atibago, an alleged former member of the paramilitary group Citizens’ Armed Forces Geographical Unit, and one Yabit Yanson, an alleged NPA cadre.

Banggi said Atibago and Yanson were identified by witnesses as among the NPA band which staged the ambush.

Banggi said police and Army soldiers were scouring the hinterland villages in the neighboring towns of Uson and Dimasalang, which are reportedly known lairs of the insurgents, to find the rebel suspects.

He said they were hot on the trail of the suspects as he had ordered the establishment of blocking forces against the fleeing rebels that split and fled toward Barangays San Rafael and Caduluan in Cataingan.

Banggi said he had also alerted the PNP in nearby Western Samar to watch the coasts of the province as it may be used as a route in the withdrawal of the fleeing rebels.

According to the police chief, Kho and her convoy were headed for Masbate City after having come from hosting a birthday party with her husband, Masbate Rep. Antonio Kho, for a close associate in Cataingan around 11:30 a.m. Sunday when the ambush happened.

The rebels allegedly detonated two improvised explosive devices placed at a road shoulder of the National Highway in Barangay Gahit in Cataingan as the convoy of Kho passed by then shot at the vehicles of the governor’s party with high-powered rifles.

Kho suffered a cut in her left eyebrow caused by broken glass that flew from the windshield of the vehicle when it was hit by a hail of bullets from their assailants.

One of her bodyguards was also wounded in the attack, but the injury was also merely minor.

Greg Banares, spokesman of the NPA’s mother organization, the National Democratic Front (NDF), in the Bicol region, in a press statement, owned up to the ambush, which he said was staged by members of the Jose Rapsing Command which operates in the island province of Masbate.

Banares, however, apologized to Kho for “accidentally” hurting her in the attack, saying the ambush was actually aimed at the members of the 507th Provincial Police Mobile Group, who were providing security for the governor’s party.

With PNA

Back to top

For comments about this website:Webmaster@tribune.net.ph
The Daily Tribune © 2006