Police chide public for not warning about NPA raid

ILOILO CITY — The police is chiding the residents of Maasin town for not alerting the town’s police station that communist rebels were coming its way.

A group of 40 to 50 New People’s Army (NPA) fighters raided the Maasin police station, disarming the officers inside and handcuffing them.

The rebels left after five minutes, taking with them the officers’ guns.

The lightning raid was a huge embarrassment to provincial police officials, who had warned weeks ago that Maasin was one of 15 towns in Iloilo that could be the target of a NPA attacks.

Last Sunday, Chief Supt. Cesar Hawthorne Binag, Western Visayas police director, said the attack could have been thwarted if the public had warned the Maasin police station.

Binag said that several months ago, an Abu Sayyaf team in Bohol was intercepted before it could mount an attack because villagers had tipped off the authorities of the extremists’ presence.

Chief Inspector Aron Palomo, Iloilo Provincial Police Office (IPPO) spokesman, followed up on Binag’s statement on Monday, saying that the Maasin police station never received any phone call or text message warning that rebels were approaching.

He said he assumed residents saw the truck before it arrived at the station.

“The police can’t anticipate an NPA attack. That is why we need the public’s cooperation,” Palomo said.

He fended off speculations that the raid was the result of failure of intelligence.