SUMMARY
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CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – Black-clad New People’s Army (NPA) rebels set up a roadblock along a highway and went on to ransack a house of a politician running for councilor in Cortes town, Surigao del Sur, on Thursday morning, February 10.
Brigadier General George Banzon, commander of the 901st Infantry Brigade, said around 20 rebels set up the checkpoint in Sitio Lubcon, Barangay Mabahin, Cortes town around 7 am Thursday.
Banzon said the rebels stayed for about 20 minutes and left, but not before flagging down a truck and ransacking a house and store owned by Joven Rivera, a PDP-Laban candidate for the Cortes municipal council.
He said the rebels seized a cal. 45 pistol from Rivera who is a former Army lieutenant.
“The NPA rebels just wanted to make their presence felt among the residents, and send a message to candidates reminding them that they have to pay so they could campaign,” Banzon said.
The National Democratic Front (NDF) has allegedly warned candidates to set aside funds for the NPA if they wish to campaign in rebel-held territories in the country.
But residents in Cortes town reported that the number of rebels who staged the checkpoint reached 100.
Major Francisco Garello, the spokesperson of the 4th Infantry Division, said the information from the town’s residents was inaccurate.
Garello said the rebels fled after soldiers from the 36th infantry Battalion arrived in Lubcon. Rappler.com
Froilan Gallardo is a Mindanao-based journalist and an awardee of the Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship
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