“This is war,” vowed Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, chief of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), as he blamed the killing on communist insurgents.
Seventeen months after the chief of police and five other policemen of Guihulngan City Police Station in Negros Oriental were ambushed and killed, another police officer from the same city was killed on Wednesday.
Senior Insp. Proferio Gabuya Jr., the deputy chief for operations of Guihulngan City Police Station, was shot dead inside a store in the city. Gabuya was going to buy a foccee when two riding assailants suddenly shot him using a M14 rifle (photo/ PRO-7)
Senior Insp. Porferio Gabuya Jr., the deputy chief for operations of the Guihulngan City Police Station, was shot dead by two motorcycle-riding assailants at around 10:25 a.m. of Wednesday, December 19, inside a store located just meters from the city’s police station.
Gabuya sustained multiple gunshot wounds on his body and died before he reached a hospital in the city.
Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, chief of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), blamed the killing of Gabuya on the New People’s Army (NPA), the military arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), whom he said was also behind the killing of Supt. Arnel Arpon, then the police chief of Guihulngan, and five of his men in July last year.
Senior Insp. Porferio Gabuya, in this photo taken in 2006, was still with the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) of the Cebu City Police Office. He was deputy chief for operations of the Guihulngan City Police Station in Negros Oriental when ambushed and killed in that city on Dec. 19, 2018.
With the ambush-slay of Gabuya, Sinas said the police units in Negros Oriental and the rest of the region have been directed to be more alert as they anticipated more “attacks” from the NPA.
“This means war gyud. Dugangan nato atong tao didto (in Negros Oriental),” said Sinas.
(This means war. We will augment our police personnel in Negros Oriental.)
Prior to the killing of Gabuya, the Guihulngan City Police received a report that armed men were in the city, according to Supt. Christopher Navida, Guihulngan Police Station chief.
Navida said the town’s policemen conducted a checkpoint at 8 a.m. yesterday and they intercepted a vehicle, which they suspected was boarded by the insurgents.
However, the police were not able to find any contraband or illegal item in the vehicle. The people who were on board the vehicle were able to produce legal identification cards and documents.
So the police decided to do away with the checkpoint, said Navida.
NPA hit?
Just hours prior to last Wednesday’s ambush, the Guihulngan Police Station’s top officers were in fact having a briefing session regarding their full alert status this Christmas season.
At around 10 a.m. the policemen went to their designated police assistance desk. However, Gabuya did not go directly to his assigned post and instead went to a store to buy coffee.
While Gabuya was inside the store, two men riding in tandem on a black motorcycle suddenly went behind the police officer and shot him, using M14 rifle.
Records from PRO-7 said that Gabuya, who joined the Philippine National Police in 1998, was first assigned to the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) and was later transferred to the Parian Police Station, also in Cebu City, before he was sent to Negros Oriental in April this year.
Gabuya, who was said to be in his early 40s, is a native of Biliran province in Eastern Visayas.
It was not known yet if there were direct threats to Gabuya before he was killed. But Navida said that over the past weeks, the city’s police force had been receiving threats through text messages, allegedly from the
NPA, hinting of possible attacks against the policemen.
Sinas, in a press briefing yesterday, said they believed that the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) was responsible for the attack on the police officer.
He said that just hours after the killing of Gabuya, Guihulngan City Police Station received a message allegedly from the CPP-NPA owning the ambush-slay.
“Nakadawat sila (Guihulngan City Police) og text diin gi-claim sa NPA nga sila ang nagbuhat ato,” said Sinas.
(The Guihulngan City Police received a text message supposedly from the NPA, which claimed that they were the ones behind the killing.)
Sinas, however, said that PRO-7 would still need to assess and evaluate the text message to verify if it
really came from the CPP-NPA.
But Sinas said they were also likely to believe that the killing of Gabuya was done by the NPA after they also received similar threats from the guerilla group.
“And they also openly stated nga ila tang i-harass. Gani sa Region 5 (Bicol Region) daghang harassment didto, apil nani ang atoa dinhi sa Negros,” said Sinas.
(And they also openly stated that they will harass the police force. In fact, in Region 5, there were
already numerous incidents of harassment, while doing the same thing in Negros.)
Stay alert
Sinas said they needed to be more alert, considering that the NPA will be celebrating its anniversary next week.
On December 26, the NPA will be celebrating its 50th anniversary, prompting numerous request to not just to augment the number of troops assigned in Marawi City but also in other areas where communist rebels are known to operate.
He said he will follow-up his request to Camp Crame, the national headquarters of the Philippine National Police, to augment their force in Negros Oriental.
“Gihulat namo ang SAF (Special Action Force) sa national headquarters. Tua na didto among Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB),” said Sinas.
(We are waiting for the SAF from the national headquarters. Our RMFB were already sent to Negros Oriental.)