Quezon province map
LUCENA CITY — The mayor of San Andres town in Quezon province has imposed stricter rules and regulations on residents and visitors following the recent encounters between government forces and communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in the locality.
Mayor Ralph Edward Lim, in his Executive Order No. 04 issued on Feb. 1, said no person would be allowed outside of their residences between 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. the following morning “except for medical emergencies and other analogous reasons.”
“The movements of local residents, visitors, and tourists whether inward or outward are likewise restricted, subject to the SOP (standard operating procedures) of the police,” Lim said.
The mayor also ordered policemen to put up checkpoints at both ends and borders of the municipality, particularly in the villages of Talisay and Tala.
The cargo trucks, passenger vans, private cars, and public utility buses carrying passengers bound for Masbate shall be allowed entry at the checkpoint in Tala going to San Andres port.
“The number of passengers shall be recorded at the checkpoint, and the plate numbers of the vehicles shall be noted,” the order states.
Lim emphasized that all motorists coming from Masbate would be allowed to traverse the roads inside the town when going out of the locality “provided they will head straight without stopping over to any point in between.”
For security reasons, all meetings and conventions previously arranged and scheduled to be held in the municipality were temporarily revoked and canceled.
Lim did not state the duration of the order.
On January 27, police and soldiers clashed with a band of communist guerrillas in Barangay (village) Pansoy in San Andres. A soldier was injured in the battle.
READ: Soldier hurt in clash with suspected NPA rebels in Quezon
Some villagers were forced to evacuate to escape being caught in the crossfire.
Two days later, three communist rebels were killed in another encounter in Barangay Huyon-Uyon in the neighboring San Francisco town.
The Red fighters killed in the clash included the alleged leader of the communist guerrillas in the earlier San Andres battle. The troops recovered three AK-47 rifles from the dead rebels.
Government forces continued their anti-insurgency operations.
San Andres and San Francisco are located in the province’s 3rd district (Bondoc Peninsula), a known former NPA bailiwick in the Southern Tagalog region. INQ
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