Counter-insurgency operations continue in Negros Oriental against the communist New People’s Army (NPA) to prevent the recruitment of new members or the recovery of dismantled guerilla fronts, an official said yesterday.

Lt. Stephen Polinar, spokesperson of the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office, said that the latest combat operations resulted in the recovery of an improvised shotgun and components of an improvised explosive device on Sunday, July 7, in Barangay Milagrosa in the southern town of Sta. Catalina.

The police operatives from the 1st Provincial Mobile Force Company were acting on a tip from civilians in the area who said they saw three males “harboring” in the said barangay and allegedly buried the items.

They were suspected remnants of the dismantled South East Front of the NPA, Polinar said.

“We are conducting relentless combat operations against the remaining NPA rebels to ensure that they cannot regain hold of their previous mass-base, now that Negros Oriental is already under the status of Stable Internal Peace and Security,” he added. (PNA)