Military pursuing ‛Maasin’ NPA raiders

ILOILO CITY — Members of the 61st Infantry Battalion are still relentlessly searching for the members of the New People's Army who raided the police station in Maasin, Iloilo last Sunday.

Lieutenant Colonel Sisenando Magbalot Jr., 61st IB commander, in an interview yesterday, said these rebels were just running in the mountainous area of Leon town in Iloilo where they encountered them last Tuesday specifically at Barangay Lampaya.

Two days after the encounter, Magbalot said the area was peaceful, but there is a possibility that these rebels are still within the area and noted there would be a "big chance" that they would have another encounter with the rebels one of these days.

Magbalot earlier said his commander had been receiving information from the civilians that the NPA rebels were just within the area of Leon, so his troops are taking actions on it.

Meanwhile, Magbalot said that the other municipal police stations in the province of Iloilo were already told to "harden their installations" of personnel to secure their areas for another possible raid of rebels.

With the recent relieve of the director of Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) and the police chief of the Maasin town, Magbalot said that "everybody is now reacting."