NPAs disarm Zambo mayor, police escorts

MANILA, Philippines - Suspected communist rebels wearing police uniforms yesterday flagged down and disarmed a town mayor in Zamboanga del Sur and his police escorts, the military said.

Army reports said about 20 suspected guerrillas wearing the attire of Special Action Forces flagged down the vehicle of Pitogo Mayor Richard Garban in Barangay Mati, San Miguel town at around 6:40 a.m. yesterday.

Capt. Jefferson Somera, spokesman of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division, said the insurgents carted away two M-16 rifles and two .45-caliber pistols from the mayor’s police escorts.

No one was hurt during the incident, which happened in front of the Mati Elementary School.

Somera said the New People’s Army’s Western Mindanao Regional Party is the communist unit operating in the area.

Authorities are now conducting pursuit operations against the suspected rebels. – Alexis Romero, Roel Pareño