SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur — Communist guerrillas set up checkpoints, on Monday morning, along the national highway in two separate areas of this province and in neighboring Surigao del Sur apparently to let their presence felt by motorists and commuters on the eve of their 47th anniversary.
A report from the Agusan del Sur Provincial Police Office said they received a mobile phone call from a concerned resident that some 50 fully armed New People’s Army rebels blocked all vehicles passing by San Jose village in Prosperidad town at7 a.m. and asked passengers to disembark to listen to their dialogue cum propaganda relating to the coming May 9elections.
The road blockade lasted for 30 minutes as responding policemen were only alerted by the phone call and went to the area where they only recovered a tarpaulin which is printed with “NPA Checkpoint.”
Another group of about 20 guerrillas set up a checkpoint in Bitoon village in Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur, that stranded commuters for about 15 minutes as the rebels were also conducting a dialogue with them on the ills of the present administration of the national government.
Rona Taglucop Omo, station manager of a local FM station Radyo Natin in Bislig City, who was allowed to take pictures of the incident, said an NPA spokesperson told the commuters nothing has changed in the country even if leaders changed in every election.
Omo said the spokesperson also pointed out that only politicians have been fortunate enough to amass the country’s wealth while majority of Filipinos suffered from abject poverty.
Omo said she was riding in her car traveling from Hinatuan on her way home to Bislig City, when she saw the NPA checkpoint.
The police earlier reported that a team from Special Action Force based in Agusan del Sur Provincial Police Office went to the area but were fired upon by the NPA rebels.
In a statement posted on their Facebook wall, the Agusan del Sur Provincial Police Office said the setting up of the checkpoint by the NPA rebels was only meant to scare the people and serve as a message that politicians should start paying revolutionary taxes for “permits to win” and “permits to campaign” at the start of the campaign period for local candidates. SFM