PNP goes on full alert, AFP on heightened alert for NPA anniversary

By Ronron
March 28, 2008

The Philippine National Police (PNP) goes on full alert while the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is on heightened alert Friday night in preparation for the 39th anniversary of the New People’s Army (NPA) on Saturday.

PNP spokesman Sr. Supt. Nicanor Bartolome said the highest alert level of all police forces nationwide takes effect 6pm. The same goes for the alert level of the AFP nationwide, said Brig. Gen. Roland Detabali, the military’s Deputy Chief for Operations.

“We are on alert because normally, they (NPA) conduct intensified operations on their anniversary,” Detabali said in a phone interview yesterday afternoon.

“Historically, the NPA has been known to launch armed hostilities and tactical offensives against soft targets and other targets of opportunity as their way of commemorating their anniversary,” PNP chief Gen. Avelino Razon, Jr. said in a separate statement.

While there is no direct threat of an attack by the NPA, PNP Director for Operations Chief Supt. Silverio Alarcio, Jr., in a memorandum circulated among all regional offices and national support units, said: “There is a possibility that the NPA might launch terrorist acts against less secure police and military outposts, and vulnerable government installations including some business establishments and other soft targets.”

Putting the entire police force on the highest alert goes along with instructions for them to “implement counter-measures and precautionary plans, intensify intelligence operations to preempt and anticipate terrorist actions, establish listening posts, and mobilize Barangay Information Networks.”

Under a full alert status, all policemen are expected to be on duty, while under a heightened alert level, only 50 percent are expected to be in camps.

The NPA’s political arm, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), said yesterday in a statement that it will mark its 39th anniversary with a celebration for their various successful operations in the last year.

“Even before the current NPA anniversary, we were already able to launch more than 500 major and minor tactical offensives against government forces,” the CPP said.

“It has been able to increase the number of NPA units as a result of the seizure of weapons from the enemy and the progress of mass work. It has been able to maintain 120-130 guerilla fronts and to expand and upgrade most of them,” it added.

The CPP said “it is now in a position to increase the number of guerilla fronts.”

“We can reap victories by continuing to seize the initiative and launching far more tactical offensives against the enemy last year,” it said./DMS