Questions about the NPA raid at Silay airport

Undoubtedly, the New People’s Army (NPA) attack on the Silay City airport Sunday was a major debacle. But it also generated a lot of questions.

Fact is, officials of the two foreign construction firms in charge of the project had allegedly received extortion letters from the rebels but did not report them to the authorities.

The second point raised was why does the security of such a vital project entrusted only to security guards of Mansor Security.

Another query was why the Regional Mobile Patrol Group did not learn about the attack until hours later, even later than some media establishments in Bacolod City?

The rebels, numbering about 30 and dressed in policemen’s uniform, also disarmed the security guards and took 22 guns, many of which were caliber .38 revolvers.

The attackers also reportedly destroyed the electronic control rooms of a cement batching plant of Hanjin International and the standby generator of Takinaka Itocho, according to Silay City Mayor Carlo Gamban.

Damage was initially estimated at P30 million.

The Silay City mayor immediately condemned the attack as an act of terrorism and economic sabotage. He pointed out that the poor people of Silay will suffer from the delay of the work on the airport that is expected to create many job opportunities and other businesses in the area."

The rebels were reportedly armed with high-powered firearms and used improvised explosives made of gasoline and ammonium nitrate, according to Col. Felicisimo Budiongan, Army Task Group Commander North chief.

The attack is expected to further delay the completion of the new Bacolod airport at Hacienda Panaogao in Barangay Bagtic by another one month.

The airport was scheduled to open by July next year. Heavy rains already delayed the project for one month. The attack will further delay it for another month, at least according to Transportation Assistant Secretary Ricardo Tan, who also rushed to the area.

It was only after they had disarmed the security guards that the uniformed rebels introduced themselves as NPA members. Their head introduced himself as Ka Jimmy.

The raiders reportedly stayed at the compound some 30 minutes before withdrawing with the weapons.

Western Visayas police chief Geary Barias said he will set up an RMG outpost in the area to augment the airport’s security. Barias also said he will put up an RMG detachment at the new Iloilo Airport in Cabatuan town in Iloilo.

He said the purpose of the rebels in staging the raid was to embarrass the government and the two foreign companies as well as the police and military authorities.

Col. Gregorio Fajardo, commander of the 303rd Infantry Brigade, told newsmen that officials of Takinaka Itocho and Hanjin International reportedly ignored the demand letters of the NPA asking for revolutionary taxes.

Assistant Transportation Secretary Tan said yesterday that Hanjin will need at last one month to import the units needed for the electronic-controlled watching machines.

The new airport is expected to be finished later next year, possibly by the last quarter.

Gamban pointed out that the completion of the airport could transform the economic landscape there , which is 90 percent agricultural at present to industrial and commercial.

New police chief Rosendo Franco directed the police to secure vital installations in the province, including telecommunications towers, oil depots and power transmission lines.

Well, all of that is delayed reaction. The problem is that the military and the police failed to augment the security of the airport project before the Sunday raid.

Earlier, Rep. Etta Rosales scored the NPA for torching a fruit van of Alter Trade. The firm, owned and operated by surrendered rebels, reportedly refused to pay taxes to the rebels, hence the attack.

But the Sunday raid had registered a major impact among the people, not only in Silay City but also the entire province.

Fake warrants unearthed

The Western Visayas region last week reacted to the discovery of Region 6 police director Barias that the warrants for the arrest of Archie and Jan Michael in the an-Sayco massacre turned out to be fake.

RTC Judge Narciso Aguilar denied issuing the arrest warrants after Sayno questioned the veracity of the court documents against his clients.

Aguilar, temporarily detailed at the Kalibo (Aklan) Regional Trial Court to handle the murder charges against the Tan brothers in Iloilo, denied having affixed his signature to the warrants.

He expressed suspicion that somebody may have filled up a blank warrant form and put the names of the suspects there and circulated it in Iloilo City until it landed in the hands of the regional police office.

Barias had already ordered a manhunt for the Tan brothers when he discovered the fake warrants.

Barias withdrew the arrest order issued earlier to the Iloilo police and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group 6 until Aguilar issues an authentic warrant for the arrest to the Tan brothers.

The massacre victims were Francisco "Bobby" Tan, his Negrense wife, Cindy Zayco, and their six-year-old daughter, Kathy. Their bodies bore multiple stab wounds.

Sayno Saturday filed a motion for reconsideration with the DOJ to file murder and parricide charges against the two brothers.

Under the law, the DOJ has 60 days to resolve the motion.

Iloilo City Prosecutor Efraim Baldago last Oct. 2, 2006, upheld the findings of assistant prosecutor Jeremy Bionat, who found merit on the evidence and findings of the CIDG to warrant the filing of two counts of murder and one of parricide against the Tan brothers.

The question now is who falsified the arrest warrants?

ADDENDA. For weeks police authorities were baffled by the series of thefts of sacred icons in San Antonio Abad Church in Barangay Taculing. Yesterday, the Bacolod police arrested Richard Tigle, 21, and Jack Navarra, 30, for the theft of the head of Virgin Mary and of St. Joseph from the San Antonio Abad Church last July 31. Judge Ramon Delariarte of Branch 49 of the Bacolod RTC issued the warrant against Tigle for qualified theft and another against Navarra for violating Presidential Decree 1612 (the Anti-Fencing Law). Tigle is an altar boy at San Antonio Abad, while Navarra is a helper at the Eroreco Church in Barangay Mandalagan . . . Meanwhile, 12 jeepney passengers were injured when the vehicle they were riding lost its brakes while negotiating a curve in Barangay Guinabalaon, Silay City Sunday afternoon. The jeepney plunged into a bamboo plantation and tumbled sideways. All the victims are still confined at a Bacolod City hospital.