BUTUAN CITY—Four days after the abduction of a police intelligence officer by eight heavily armed men believed to be communist guerrillas in a coastal town of Surigao del Norte province, two policemen, a female and a male, were seized by about 30 heavily armed men at around 1:45 p.m. on Sunday in a lakeside municipality of said province.
Reports reaching the National Police regional headquarters here on Monday indicate that Police Officer 3 Democrito B. Polvorosa and PO1 Marichel U. Contemplo, both of the Alegria Police Station, Alegria, Surigao del Norte, were onboard their station’s patrol vehicle to attend a Police Community Relations, a joint activity of the Municipal Social Welfare Development Office and Alegria Municipal Police Station in Barangay Pongtud, Alegria, when kidnapped.
Upon reaching a section of the national highway in Barangay San Pedro of said town, the police personnel were flagged down by an armed group believed to be New People’s Army (NPA) rebels. Both police personnel were taken by their abductors to the hinterlands of the said area, the police report said.
The police regional headquarters here had placed all units down to the municipal level on full alert status, in line with the recent abduction and that of PO1 Jorie M. Amper of the Malimono Municipal Police Station, of Malimono, Surigao del Norte. Negotiations for the latter’s release is still ongoing between the local crisis-management committee headed by Malimono Mayor Teodoro Senaca and the abductors through some third- party intermediaries.
The Army’s 30th Infantry Battalion, the First Special Action Battalion of the National Police Special Action Force and the Surigao del Norte Police Public Safety Company were dispatched to conduct pursuit operations.
Likewise, coordination is now being made for the activation of the provincial crisis management committee to address the kidnappings.
It could be recalled that four personnel of Alegria Municipal Police Station were kidnapped on July 10, also on their way to Barangay Pongtud for a community relations activity, when they were flagged down by an NPA checkpoint, believed to be the blocking force of an attack group which harassed and overrun the said police station.
They were released, however, 19 days later after the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the provincial crisis management committee headed by Gov. Sol Matugas and the local government in the area negotiated with the rebels.
PNA