NPA tagged as threat to village polls in Eastern Visayas

PALO, Leyte, May 10  -- Activities of the New People’s Army (NPA) remains a security threat to upcoming village and youth council elections in Eastern Visayas, a military official said on Wednesday.

Major Gen. Raul Farnacio, commander of the Philippine Army’s 8th Infantry Division based in Catbalogan City said NPAs have been consolidating their forces especially in Northern Samar area a week before the elections.

Farnacio reported that on Tuesday, patrolling soldiers encountered about 60 armed rebels in the upland Imelda village in Silvino Lobos, Northern Samar. One soldier was wounded while there are still unknown casualties on the NPA side.

“I believe their consolidation in the hinterlands has something to do with the upcoming elections especially in remote areas,” Farnacio told reporters during Wednesday’s send-off ceremony of augmentation forces to secure the elections.

The military official said rebels see the elections as an opportunity to raise funds and anoint their chosen local officials. “It has been their plan to support village officials who are supportive to their armed struggle,” Farnacio added.

The military has deployed this week 1,700 soldiers to ensure peaceful elections in conflict-stricken communities.

These troopers are from the 801st brigade based in Hinabangan, Samar; 802nd brigade based in Ormoc City in Leyte; and 803rd brigade based in Catarman, Northern Samar. Each brigade has 500 to 600 soldiers.

The Samar provinces have been the stronghold of armed rebels due to their densely-forested mountainous areas, high poverty incidence, and issue of widespread landlessness, according to a 2013 study of William Norman Holden of the University of Calgary in Canada.

The NPA launched its first tactical operation in the country in Calbiga, Samar in 1974, when its members ambushed an Army scout patrol and seized a number of weapons.

In 1976, the NPA gained popular support among the inhabitants of Samar following its actions against cattle rustling gangs.

In the Eastern Visayas region, three cities and 24 towns have confirmed NPA activities. There are 404 active NPA members in Eastern Visayas equipped with 576 firearms in four provinces as of first quarter of 2018, the military reported. (SQM/PNA)