TO REINFORCE at the height of a gunbattle is not that easy, 10th Infantry Division spokesperson Captain Rhyan Batchar defended Tuesday as he spoke on the case of the abducted station commander in Davao Oriental, Sunday evening.
Chief Inspector Arnold Ongachen was held captive by some 50 heavily armed members of the New People’s Army (NPA) when they ransacked the Governor Generoso Police Station on May 29 passed 7:00 p.m.
A two-hour firefight ensued between the two opposing parties until (9:44 p.m.) the 14 on-duty policemen have to surrender because they ran out of bullets.
Upon learning of the violence, most of the people, especially the netizens voiced out their “disappointment” on social networking sites. Some were even cursing on fellow government troops for failing to send reinforcements.
In a phone interview with Sun.Star Davao, Bathchar said that they indeed exerted all efforts on their part to help their harassed colleagues; only, there were some factors which hampered their aid.
“First, the attack happened at night time when anyone would have difficulty traversing the area. Second, Governor Genereso is quite far from the nearest station of any law enforcement group,” Batchar explained. There is a 24 km driving distance from the 28th Infantry Battalion's camp in San Isidro, Davao Oriental to the Governor Generoso Police Station.
Batchar added that they received information at around 8:00 p.m. “Troops from the 28th IB were immediately dispatched to the area,” he said. Road blockades that were installed in Barangay Dawan in Mati City and Barangay Macangao in Lupon by the NPAs also caused delay of the reinforcements four armored fighting vehicles.
“The reinforcements just followed safety protocols to avoid additional casualty,” he said. The responding armies arrived early morning (8:15 a.m.) at the site and were able to check if the rebels left any explosive device when they arrived at the station, they found none.
In between those times, the army has already alerted maritime patrol groups and air force to secure their posts in case the fleeing rebels would cross their areas. They were patrolling the shorelines of Banay-banay and Lupon municipality.
Authorities are suspecting that the rebel group, Pulang Bagani 6 of the Sub-regional committee 2 which camps along the boundary of Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental were behind the attack.
“This act must be their way of showing that they still have control over the area because the province (Davao Oriental) was recently declared as ‘Conflict-manageable-and-development-ready’,” Batchar expressed.
Through the intensified pursuit operations, the authorities, on Monday afternoon found the get-away vehicles of the NPAs.
A Strada was found at Barangay Surop, Governor Generoso; a bloodstained elf truck was also found at Barangay Nangan, Governor Generoso; and a Hilux at Barangay Magdug of the same municipality.
“This indicates that the rebel group is still around the vicinity as some of their comrades might be wounded and cause derail of their escape,” Batchar concluded.