TACLOBAN CITY—The mayor of a town in Samar province warned village officials of criminal charges if they continued to support New People’s Army (NPA), armed wing of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
Aran Boller, mayor of Matuguinao town, said at an anti-communist rally last Jan. 29 that he was giving village officials until Feb. 15 “to stop providing support to NPA members.”
He cited testimony by former NPA members, who had surrendered to the government, pointing to village officials as providing financial and material support to the guerrillas.
Matuguinao is among Samar’s remotest areas with more than 7,000 people spread in 20 villages. The fifth-class town with an annual income of over P55 million is considered to be an insurgency hot bed.
“It’s about time that we end this insurgency problem besetting our town,” Boller said during the anti-communist rally. “Let us stop the fear. How can we achieve peace and development if we continue to live in fear,” he said.
The mayor said part of his plan to end insurgency in his town was to have soldiers deployed to each of the town’s 20 villages.