3 Antique cops hurt in NPA ambush

ILOILO CITY — Three policemen were wounded following an ambuscade in Sibalom town of Antique Tuesday morning, staged by New People's Army rebels.

Police Officer 3 Gabby Orantes of the Sibalom Police Station was hit on the stomach with shrapnels from an improvised explosive device (IED), while PO3s Michael Alejo and Salvador Cordero were injured on their arms as they took cover to safety and returned fire.Chief Superintendent Cesar Hawthorne Binag, director of the Police Regional Office-6, said only Orantes was wounded as a result of the IED going off. The three however were brought to the Ramon Maza Sr., Memorial District Hospital for treatment.

According to reports, members of Sibalom Police Station, led by Senior Police Officer 4 Ricky Ensina, were on board two vehicles on their way to an undetailed police operation when they were ambushed along the highway at Barangay Bontol around 9:25 a.m.

Binag said that, before the ambush, policemen all over Western Visayas were already instructed to remain alert for any attacks by the rebels. "That's why, we are on the offensives. It's just that the NPAs are into the use of IED," he said.

The Philippine Army's 3rd Infantry Division had already condemned the use of IEDs, "as it clearly shows that the CPP-NPA terrorists violates the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, to which the Government of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front, including the CPP-NPA, are signatories to ban the use of landmines."

Before the ambush, or Tuesday morning, an undetermined number of rebels also harassed by firing shots at a military detachment at Barangay Bulalacao, also in Sibalom, which is just about two to three kilometers away from Bontol village. No one was however wounded on the government side.

Brigadier General Pio Diñoso, 301st Infantry Brigade commander, said the incident was a clear case of harassment by a desperate rebel group. It was not a retaliatory attack but a diversionary move, he said. "We have been conducting relentless operations in the provinces of Iloilo and Capiz. It was an attempt to divert the government troops' focus," he said.

Diñoso believed that the rebels in Antique could not stage offensives against government troops, "so, they would resort to harassment." The firing of the detachment, Diñoso said, could have been done by just two persons, he said.

"Their movements would be known once they go in groups because the populace would tip us up," he said, adding that it was also possible that the two Sibalom incidents were done by only one group.