MANILA (Updated) -- Four policemen were killed in Bansalan, Davao del Sur, on Wednesday in an attacked blamed on the New People's Army (NPA) rebels.
The slain policemen were identified as Police Officer 1 (PO1) Rolly Benelayo, PO1 Joe Narvaza, PO1 Saro Mangutara, belonging to the Bansalan Municipal Police Station, and PO3 Jayden May Rabor of the Scene of the Crime Operations (Soco) of Digos City.
Another policeman, PO3 Allen Arnado, was wounded.
"Mga high-powered firearms ang ginamit sa insidente, at wala namang ibang makagagawa nito kundi ang NPA lamang (The firearms used were high-powered and no one can ever do this but the NPA only), but still, ongoing pa rin ang investigation para matumbok natin na NPA talaga ang gumawa (the investigation is ongoing to verify if the NPA is the suspect in the killings)," said Chief Superintendent Marcelo Morales, deputy regional director for administration.
The police are also considering Sibayan village chief Eddie Dicdican as a person of interest as he was the one who called the Bansalan Municipal Police Station about the killing of two civilians around 2 a.m. in their barangay. The cops went to the village around 7:45 a.m. to respond to the incident.
Chief Inspector Adrian Antonio, Bansalan police chief, said Arnado fell from the police vehicle just before the landmine exploded, thus he survived the ambush.
After the explosion, the rebels then shot the policemen inside the vehicle before running off with an M16 Armalite rifle including the slain policemen's boots.
Members of the Philippine Army are now hunting the rebels.
Senior Superintendent Samuel Gadingan, Davao del Sur Provincial Police Office director, believed the NPA was also the one who killed the two civilians to use the deaths as bait for the police to go up the mountain village.
A similar plot was hatched by the NPA in Sitio Balagonon, Barangay Managa in Laak, Compostela Valley, where Senior Inspector Emelex Mabalot and three other policemen were killed in an ambush.
Lieutenant Colonel Harold Argamosa, 39th Infantry Battalion commander, said police and military units in Davao del Sur have been placed on heightened alert following the incident.
Last February, President Rodrigo Duterte reciprocated the rebel's lifting of the unilateral ceasefire and scrapped the peace talks with the rebels. (SunStar Philippines/with SunStar Davao)
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