2 cops abducted, another killed by suspected NPA members

DAVAO: DAVAO CITY AND CARAGA: PLACER, SURIGAO DEL NORTE

PURSUIT OPERATIONS by law enforcement teams are continuing against suspected New People’s Army (NPA) members who abducted two police officers in Placer, Surigao del Norte Monday afternoon. The Police Regional Office in Northern Mindanao said armed men snatched Police Officer 2 Alfredo Lauro Degamon, Jr. and John Paul Mondaya Doverte while they were on duty. The report said the armed men forced the two cops to board a van, which then went into a mountainous area of the town. Pursuing soldiers were able to recover the vehicles used in the abduction, but the abductors and their captives were able to escape.

Davao City

Meanwhile, the Davao Regional Police Office is also on a hunt for the killers of one of their officers who was shot dead Monday morning as he was bringing his wife to work. Members of the NPA, the armed group of the communist movement, are also suspected in the shooting. Chief Supt. Manuel R. Gaerlan, Davao regional director, condemned the killing of Police Officer 3 Wilfredo Garol. “This act is a manifestation that the NPA as well as other communist front organizations have no regard for HR (human rights) and IHL (international humanitarian law),” said Mr. Gaerlan in a statement. Based on a police report, Mr. Garol was dropping his wife at a school where she is a teacher when two men shot him. The city government has rolled out plans to hold a localized peace negotiation following the collapse of the talks between the national government and the political arm of the communist movement, the National Democratic Front (NDF). Earlier this week, President Rodrigo R. Duterte appealed to the NPA to “simmer down” and hinted on a return to the peace negotiations, a pronouncement that the NDF welcomed. —