By Paulo Loreto Lim

Personnel from both the Negros Oriental Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Army 62nd Infantry Battalion are currently conducting patrols amid reports of local New People’s Army (NPA) sightings.

Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office (NOrPPO) director, Police Senior Superintendent Edwin Portento, said monitoring and patrols are being done in response to accounts of sightings in Bindoy and other nearby localities.

According to local residents, armed men have been visiting homes in the area asking for food and requesting to be quartered.

However, in response to claims NPA membership numbers around 600 in the area, Portento called it an “exaggeration.”

Last month, Moises Padilla Mayor Magdaleno Peña urged Negros Occidental mayors to participate in the campaign against the NPA, saying they should actively support the Armed Forces of the Philippines, in compliance with the President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to eliminate the NPA and other terrorist organizations.

Earlier this week, the Philippine Army 303rd Infantry Brigade confirmed the group was behind an attack on a farm tractor in La Castellana, Negros Occidental, where they opened the vehicle’s fuel tank and set it on fire./PLL, WDJ