By Cebu Daily News
New People’s Army (NPA) rebels from Bohol went to Leyte to augment their decreasing forces there, a military official said yesterday.
Lt. Col. Mario Lacurom, commander of the 43rd IB that covers Southern Leyte and the fifth district of Leyte province, confirmed that rebels from Chocolate Hills Front in Bohol had gone to Leyte.
In an interview yesterday morning, Lacurom said that there were about 40 NPA rebels who crossed from Bohol to Leyte and Southern Leyte. It took them two hours to travel by banca (outrigger) from Ubay town in Bohol to Bato, Leyte and Maasin, Southern Leyte.
Since Bato is very strategic to Bohol and Cebu, “peace and order should be maintained†in the area, Col. Rauol Reyes, 802nd Brigade commander, said in a separate interview yesterday morning.
Reyes admitted that the insurgency problem would not be totally eradicated "but their presence, specifically in Leyte Island, would be insignificant."
"The active members of the NPA are now about 60 in the island of Leyte while (the rebels') firearms have been reduced to 40," he said.
Reyes said the military had dismantled the rebel forces' mass base in the northwest area of Leyte with the surrender of about 1,500 officers and members of the Samahan sa Mag-uuma sa Calubian (SAMACA) and Kahugpungang Mag-uuma sa San Isidro (KAMAS), under the umbrella of the Samahan sa Gudti nga Parag-uma (SAGUPA), an alleged front organization of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in Leyte. All three are organization of farmers in Leyte Island.
Reyes also urged the members of the newly created Drivers Action and Reaction Team, a group of passenger motorcycle drivers in Bato, to watch possible entry of rebels in their town.
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Topic: NPA Rebels In Bohol Get Recruits In Leyte? (Read 964 times)