NPA rebels storm Eastern Samar jail

TACLOBAN CITY— Communist rebels stormed a provincial jail in Oras town in Eastern Samar town on Monday, seizing several firearms.

No inmate was freed and no one was hurt, according to a report reaching the Philippine National Police (PNP) regional office here.

Senior Superintendent Elizar Egloso, PNP regional information officer, said at least 30 New People’s Army (NPA) rebels overwhelmed the three guards on duty at the jail in Barangay Kalawit, more than a kilometer away from the town proper, at 8:30 a.m.

They took one .45 cal. pistol, one .38 cal. revolver, one shotgun and one Garand rifle, Egloso said. PO2 Vicente Pajanustan, whose house is located near the facility, lost his Armalite rifle, he added.

Sources, who declined to be named for lack of authority to speak on the raid, said the rebels also took a computer laptop and the cellphones of the guards, identified as Epifanio Robediso, Jaime Lagdaan and Norel Moscosa.

Egloso said one of the inmates identified two of the NPA raiders as Pedro Montallana and Luding Picardal.

He did not identify the inmate and could not give the exact number of prisoners being held in the facility.

The municipal police station headed by Chief Inspector Apolonio Borata and soldiers of the Army’s 43rd Infantry Battalion are pursuing the rebels.

Eastern Samar Governor Conrado Nicart said he immediately asked the provincial jail warden, Zaldy Sobrevega, to investigate the incident “and see if there was any liability (on the part of those who were on duty).”