‘Rebel attack’ no cause for concern-PNP, AFP

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte, Philippines — The police and military have allayed fears over a text message warning of a possible attack by communist rebels on police stations and business establishments in Samar.

Capt. Reynaldo Aragones, the spokesperson of the 8th Infantry Division based in Catbalogan City, Samar province, said the military was on top of the situation.

“Still, we are not dismissing that information and we are now conducting our investigation,” he said.

A text message circulated last week, saying that the New People’s Army would attack police stations and business establishments in Samar.

Col. Ma. Bella Rentuaya, spokesperson of the Eastern Visayas police based at Camp Ruperto Kangleon in Palo town, Leyte, downplayed the text message.

She, nonetheless, asked the public to be vigilant.

Rentuaya said the police in the region had been on alert status since the August 2018 attack on a police station in Lapinig town, Northern Samar. No one was hurt during the raid by about 100 rebels.

Last Nov. 11, six soldiers and a rebel were killed during a firefight in Borongan City, Eastern Samar.

President Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to crush Asia’s longest insurgency by 2022.