THE Philippine National Police (PNP) here in the Cordillera Administrative Region recently suffered the loss of two of its members and the wounding of several others in an ambush and subsequent armed skirmish perpetrated by the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Bauko and Tadian, Mountain Province, respectively.
In the ambush executed by NPA rebels in Mt. Kapuwaw in Bagnen, Bauko Mt. Province last March 29, Patrolman Wilfredo Padawil succumbed to injuries he sustained after coming under fire while Police Corporal Erpeel Lapniten was likewise wounded in the same ambuscade. According to PNP authorities the 152nd Company of the PNP Regional Mobile Force engaged the rebels in a 15-minute firefight that resulted in the death of Padawil and the wounding of Lapniten.
In another subsequent incident last April 2 an encounter between government forces and the NPA guerillas in Tadian. Mountain Province resulted in the death of Corporal Marlon Casil and the wounding of seven other PNP members.
The NPA then issued a statement that it launched the attacks in response to the call of its superiors to intensify their offensives as part of their organization’s 50th anniversary.
Here is where the NPA and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) revealed their true nature and character. That of an ignoble organization vainly seeking to overthrow the existing government by and through whatever means, including that of perpetrating ambuscades against peace officers to celebrate their founding. Never mind if those killed are simply doing their best to do their job of maintaining peace and order in their respective jurisdictions.
The act of killing someone is certainly an evil and contemptible way of celebrating or remembering an occasion or event like the founding of the CPP-NPA.
But such is the nature and character of this ignoble organization that it exults in the deaths of its own countrymen and celebrates in the killing of its perceived enemies. It is actually saddening to think that these NPA guerrillas are committing atrocities against policemen who have sworn an oath to protect the lives and property of the people. Policemen are in fact civilian in character and the fact of them bearing firearms is simply to give emphasis on their worn duty to maintain peace and order in the community.
The peace and order in Mountain Province has been shattered with the deaths of Padawil and Casil as well as the wounding of several other PNP personnel.
It now falls on the shoulders of the Cordillerans, particularly those residing in Mt. Province to strongly condemn these disgraceful and wicked acts done by the NPA rebels against our police authorities and once and for all declaring them as persona-non-grata in whatever cordillera community they may be found. By letting them become pariahs here in the Cordillera we proclaim the sanctity of life and the preservation of the peace and order that we all desire.
There is no shortcut to what must be done but do it we must if we want to protect our patrolmen and corporals who have come under fire from these NPA scoundrels. It’s time for the cordillerans to realize that we can never be friends or allies with those who celebrate a significant or memorable event by extinguishing someone’s life.