In The Wake Of Bohol Ambush : PNP beefs up intelligence gathering in theVisayas

The Philippine National Police (PNP) is beefing up its intelligence gathering in Central Visayas following Thursday's ambush by the New People's Army (NPA) on an Army unit in Sagbayan, Bohol, killing seven soldiers and five militiamen.

PNP chief Deputy Director General Panfilo Lacson said he has ordered police units in the Central Visayas "to remain vigilant," adding, "There is a possibility that the rebels will be attacking police stations next."

Lacson admitted that the Central Visayas police, headed by Chief Superintendent Tiburcio Fusillero, his classmate in the Philippine Military Academy, received no prior intelligence information about the Bohol ambush.

"Bohol has always been a hotbed of communist rebel activities. They used to attack detachments of the military's regional mobile group. Now they are targeting police detachments," he said.

Last year, the NPA raided a police detachment in Batuan, Bohol and carted away high-powered firearms.

Police and military forces are bracing for more rebel attacks as the NPA marks its anniversary on March 26.

The NPA ambushed in Barangay Sta. Catalina, Sagba-yan, Bohol government reinforcements trying to intercept rebels who attacked an Army detachment in nearby Balilihan six hours earlier.

Among the dead was Army 2nd Lt. Socrates Kue, team leader of a unit of the 7th Special Forces Company that was trying to intercept the fleeing Balilihan attackers.

Two other Army troopers, Sgt. Ricky Pacullo and Cpl. Sixto Roncale, and a militiaman, Allan Avila, were wounded and taken to the Governor Vicente Gallares Memorial Hospital in Tagbi-laran, 76 kilometers away.

Pacullo said his unit was aboard an Army truck when about 40 rebels opened fire on them from both sides of the road.

Maj. Michael Manquiquis, public information officer of the Armed Forces' Visayas Command (Viscom), said only 10 bodies have been recovered in Sagbayan.

Manquiquis said the ambushers were not the same rebel group that attempted to overrun the detachment in Balilihan.

Gen. Santos Gabison, Viscom commander, said the attack in Balilihan was just a diversionary tactic and that the rebels' real intention was to ambush the reinforcing troops.

Another rebel group was also sighted in nearby Catigbian, apparently also positioned for an ambush in case the Army reinforcements pass through Sagbayan.

There are suspicions the rebel group was led by Domingo Compoc, a leader of Front 1 of the NPA's Central Visayas Regional Party Committee.

Communist rebels were also being blamed for attacks on the Department of Energy's head offices in Makati City and on two petroleum depots in Negros Oriental.

The attacks on the depots of Pilipinas Shell and Petron in Barangay Tampi, Amlan, Negros Oriental were carried out within six hours of each other.

Seven men aboard a jeep fired two rifle-launched grenades and sprayed about 100 rounds of ammunition at the Shell and Petron depots in Amlan at 9:45 p.m. last Wednesday.

Negros Oriental police director Voltaire Calzado said the rebels did not attempt to enter the depots and the attack, despite its intensity, caused only minor damage.

He said the police have not identified any suspects, but Negros is a stronghold of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB), a breakaway faction of the pro-Sison communist group.

Last month, the RPA-ABB threatened to target oil depots if another oil price increase was imposed.

Checkpoints were immediately established in the Negros Oriental towns of San Jose, Sibulan and Pamplona.- With Freeman News Service