TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines – Members of the 47th Infantry Battalion are now conducting a hot pursuit operation to arrest alleged members of the New People’s Army (NPA) following an encounter in a village in Bilar town, Bohol on Sunday.
According to First Lieutenant Elma Grace Remonde, civil-military officer of the Army’s 47th Infantry Battallion, they received reports that alleged members of the NPA were in Barangay (village) Cambigsi to ask residents for a “rasyun” (share) at around 12:30 p.m.
Some rebels, she said, allegedly threatened some residents to give the relief goods they received from the government.
Cambigsi is about 8 kilometers from the town proper. It has a population of at least 800 residents.
Remonde said when the government troopers arrived in the village, a clash erupted.
She said there were no reported injuries but a hot pursuit operation is on-going.
Remonde said they need to secure the area for the distribution of the cash subsidy from the government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP) on Monday, April 27.
The SAP is an emergency fund program mandated under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act to help the poorest families in the country amid the novel coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic.