55, including 14 minors, arrested, 32 firearms seized in AFP-PNP red hunt in Negros Occidental

Regional Task Force Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict 6 (RTF-ELCAC 6) present the 32 seized firearms in the simultaneous joint military-police operations in Bacolod City on Oct. 31, 2019. |3ID Photo

DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental — Fifty five persons, including 14 minors, were rounded up and 32 firearms and three grenades were seized in simultaneous joint police and military anti-insurgency operations in Bacolod City and other parts of Negros Occidental on Thursday, October 31, 2019, the military said in a report Friday.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) conducted the simultaneous operation under the Regional Task Force Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict 6 (RTF-ELCAC 6) through the implementation of search warrants  for violation of Republic  Act (RA) 10591 or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Law at Barangays 33, Bata and Taculing all of Bacolod City, at 5:45 p.m. of October 31,  the report added.

Captain Cenon Pancito, chief of the 3rd Division Public Affairs Office (DPAO),  said in the statement total  of 40 alleged members of Komiteng Rehiyon-Negros, Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor (KR-NCBS) and 15 newly recruited individuals, 14 of whom are minors coming from different areas of Negros Occidental, were taken into custody, according to Pancito.

The  55 persons were allegedly undergoing combat related training and indoctrination when arrested.

They arrested minors were turned over to the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) in Bacolod City, he added.

Among those nabbed were the so-called “high value individuals” whom Pancito identified as John Milton Lozande,  Noli Lazera Rosales, Proceso Quiatchon, Albert Dela Cerna, Mary Anne Krueger, Mary Anne Dela Concepcion,  Romulo Bito-on, Amaylin Chin-chin Bito-on, Danilo Tabura and Roberto Lachica.

The arrested persons were brought to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Negros Occidental Provincial Field Unit (PFU) for the filing of appropriate charges, he added.

But the arrested persons were actually nabbed from the Bayan Muna ang Gabriela offices in Bacolod City, according to Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate.

Read More: Bayan Muna, Gabriela offices in Bacolod raided by military, police — Zarate

The Washington-based Communications Workers of America (CWA) likewise condemned the arrest of Mary Anne Krueger, a union organizer, saying it appeared to be “a part of a larger orchestrated crackdown designed to sow fear and chill worker organizing efforts.”

Chris Shelton, president of CWA,  was quoted in the statement as saying: “The arrest of Anne Krueger and larger raids and retaliation against union and progressive organizers are unacceptable and the latest evidence of the effort to silence and intimidate those seeking to improve the lives and conditions of Filipino workers. CWA strongly condemns the raids and arrests and stands in solidarity with Anne and her family and all those arrested in what appears to be a crackdown on workers exercising their human rights. We call on other international observers, including multinational corporations operating in the massive BPO industry in the Philippines, to use their voices to call for Anne’s release as soon as possible and to speak out against the climate of fear and retaliation targeting workers that is on the rise in the Philippines under the government of President Rodrigo Duterte.”

Capt. Cenon Pancito (center), Chief, Division Public Affairs Office, Philippine Army in a press conference today in Bacolod City.

According to Pancito, however, “the arrest of the suspects can be considered as a major setback to the ground work” of the rebel movement as it “weaken(ed) their mass base and military-building efforts in Negros Occidental.”

“The application of search warrants was an offshoot of validated information reports from concerned citizens of Bacolod City on the presence of suspicious armed personalities visiting the said searched premises. It was also reported that the said premises are being used for training and indoctrination of minors for illegal activities,” Pancito said.

On the other hand, Pancito said that 32 assorted firearms, 3 fragmentation grenades, 2 ammunition for 40MM Grenade Launchers and assorted live ammunition were confiscated inside the searched premises during the conduct of search and seizure operation. 

He said the search warrants were issued by Judge Cecilyn Burgos Villavert, executive judge of the Regional Trial Court Branch 89 in Quezon City. /elb