2 more PNP officers sacked over Cagayan ambush

MANILA, Philippines—Two more police officers were axed following the ambush carried out by communist rebels in a far-flung village in Allacapan, Cagayan last Monday that left eight police commandos dead and seven others wounded.

Cagayan Provincial Director Senior Superintendent Gregorio Lim said Superintendent James Cipriano, Cagayan intelligence chief, and Senior Superintendent Joselito Cantos, Region 2 Intelligence chief, have been relieved from their posts pending the investigation on the attack in Allacapan town, Cagayan last May 27.

Last Tuesday, the Philippine National Police sacked Senior Inspector Ronnie Albino, chief of the 24th Special Action Company of the PNP Special Action Force (SAF), and Superintendent Nestor Lobos, commander of SAF’s 2nd Special Action Battalion.

Albino was the direct superior of the 15-member SAF unit who were waylaid by New People’s Army rebels after the vehicle they were riding was hit by an explosive device set off by the insurgents.

Lim, on the other hand, said the PNP decided to relieve Cipriano and Cantos pending the result of the investigation into their possible administrative liability over the incident.

In the Monday attack in Allacapan town carried out by the NPA rebels, eight members of the PNP’s elite unit, the Special Action Force, were killed and seven others were wounded.