Tuesday, November 04, 2008 Suspected rebels steal cops’ firearms, cellphones, wallets By Mia E. Abellana Sun.Star Staff Reporter
SOME 40 suspected communist rebels caught police officers in La Libertad, Negros Oriental by surprise late Sunday night when they entered the police station and divested them of firearms, their cellular phones and their wallets.
Though the incident seemed like a raid carried out by the New People’s Army (NPA), Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office (Noppo) Director Augusto Marquez said it was “plain robbery.”
Two women, reportedly in their 40s, appeared before the La Libertad Police Station past 11 p.m. to have an incident recorded in the police blotter.
Some five officers were outside and entertained them. They later ushered the women into the police station after one of them stated her purpose.
Once their backs were turned, about four armed men “rushed up” to them and ordered all those on duty to drop to the floor. To keep the police officers from looking at them, the attackers used their feet to force them to face the ground.
Their cellular phones, wallets and wrist watches were taken.
Four M16 rifles and six .45 pistols were taken while their lockers were ransacked and pillaged of their camouflage uniforms and combat boots.
The initial report submitted by the Noppo stated that there were about 40 attackers.
However, Marquez said there were an estimated 12 persons—the figure was derived from the size of the getaway Nissan Urvan they later recovered.
The van, with plate number ZLR 771, was found in Barangay Solongon, leading to the mountains.
Marquez said the attack took less than two minutes, with the suspects fleeing at the back door.
Wounded
It was there that two of them engaged with PO1 Carl Mark Jopilla, who was at the station’s barracks.
Jopilla was wounded in the right leg, but he reportedly fired back at one of them, who left a bloody trail in the police station’s floor. The man’s body was brought by his comrades.
Also, a report from Central Command (Centcom) stated that one Rojie Arellano, 20, of Barangay Mandapaton, La Libertad was held for questioning after he was reportedly “posing as a civilian” to verify the attack.
Marquez said they would not be too quick to conclude if the attack was initiated by the NPA.
He explained that some events in the incident would indicate that this was just another group pretending to be members of the NPA.
He pointed out that it was not in character of the NPA to take personal belongings.
And with more than 10 of them, they were surprised that once Jopilla fought back, they all began to scamper in different directions.
“Sa usa ra ka buto, mura na sila’g mga ilaga nga nagdinaganay (When they heard the single gunshot, they ran like startled rats),” Marquez told Sun.Star Cebu.
Marquez said they were studying the possibility of politics as a motive for the attack.
This was after one of perpetrators allegedly uttered words referring to a house representative.
“Dili ta kontra kay wala’y abusador nga pulis sa La Libertad. Armas ra ninyo among tuyo. Ang inyo ra’ng amo mao’y among kontra. Si Josy (We’re not against you because cops here are not abusive. We only need your firearms. We’re only against your leader Josy),” one of them allegedly said.
Marquez said they may have been referring to Jocelyn Limkaichong, who ran for first congressional district representative and is married to La Libertad Mayor Lawrence Limkaichong.
La Libertad Police Chief Insp. Edgar Deposoy and the 10 others who were on duty that time are under investigation.
Chief Supt. Ronald Roderos said the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group has been tasked to get a description of the person who rented the van and instructed that cartographic sketches be made.
They will also be handling the investigation in coordination with the Provincial Internal Affairs Service to determine if Deposoy or any of the personnel on duty had any liability in terms of securing the police station.
Roderos left for Negros Oriental yesterday morning to personally see what happened.
He met all the police chiefs of Negros Oriental and reminded them to tighten the security in their police stations to avoid a similar incident from happening.
Lt. Gen. Pedro Ike Inserto, commander of Centcom, instructed the 302nd and 303rd Infrantry Brigades to conduct pursuit operations on coordination with the local police of Negros Oriental.
