ALL unit commanders of the Philippine National Police (PNP) were told to be on the alert and to intensify operations against the CPP-NPA-NDF after a bomb attack in Iloilo.
Two policemen were reported injured in the attack.
Philippine National Police directed all unit commanders to be on alert and likewise intensify police operations against the that left two policemen injured.
“The NPA attack that resulted to the wounding of two of our policemen is certainly a strategy being employed to make it appear that they are still strong and eventually use as a leverage for their extortion activities to candidates for next year’s election,” PNP Chief, Police General Guillermo Eleazar said.
The intensified operations against terror groups, he averred, were meant to prevent them from extorting money that they will use for recruitment and for sowing violence.
The Chief PNP identified the injured policemen as Patrolman Jessie Castamado and Police Corporal Genel Simpas.
Initial reports indicated that personnel from the Iloilo Police Mobile Force Company were harassed by members of the Southern Front Komite, Komiteng Rehiyon Panay at their base area in Barangay Mayang.
The local police force then conducted a pursuit operation which resulted in the encounter. But the members of the communist terrorist group detonated two improvised explosive devices that resulted in the injury of Castamado and Simpas.
The number of casualties in the enemy side after the seven-minute firefight was undetermined, police said.
The two policemen were taken to the Rep. Pedro Trono Memorial District Hospital for medical treatment, and are already in stable condition.
PGen Eleazar, meanwhile, vowed that the organization would extend all forms of assistance to the injured personnel. He also tasked the local police in the area to conduct follow-up operations to catch the perpetrators of the attack.