The Sangguniang Panlalawigan has requested Bohol Provincial Police Office (BPPO) chief Sr. Supt. Felipe Natividad and 3rd Infantry Brigade commander Brig. Gen. Arnulfo Matanguihan to appear before the SP in an investigation launched after armed persons were allegedly spotted in various Bohol towns.
Both officials were asked to clarify on Wednesday circumstances surrounding the purported sightings of armed suspects who were believed to be members of the New People’s Army (NPA), a rebel group which Bohol has long been cleared of.
Natividad and Matanguihan were invited to attend the probe of the SP’s peace and order committee through Board Member Ricky Masamayor’s request which was aired during the legislator’s privilege speech last week.
Chiefs of police in Baclayon, Antequera and Trinidad, towns pointed out by the military as areas where the armed persons were allegedly spotted last month, were also invited to join the session, as indicated in Masamayor’s speech.
Leaders of other security forces including the National Bureau of Investigation and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and other police divisions were also asked to join the investigation.
Last month, Lt. Col. Joel Malig, commander of the Army’s 47th Infantry Battalion, reported to the Provincial Peace and Order Council that five men and two women, one of whom was armed with a shotgun, were spotted near a quarry bunkhouse in Barangay Cambanac, Baclayon on June 3.
Malig also noted that on June 11 five suspicious looking men were also allegedly detected inside a house in Barangay Tabuan, Antequera.
While in Barangay Bongbong, Trinidad, seven armed persons were again purportedly spotted joining a fiesta celebration inside a house on May 23.
The sighting in Baclayon was also investigated by the town’s Sangguniang Bayan and municipal police station led by Sr. Insp. Jesus Daplin who noted that the said armed individuals asked for food in the village of Cambanac.
Daplin’s confirmation was based on a statement of an employee of Labb Construction who was operating a rock crushing machine during the purported sighting. (RT)