03 July 2006
BULA, CAMARINES SUR—LESS than a month after President Macapagal-Arroyo’s declaration to wipe out communist insurgents in two years, the police’s Explosive Ordnance Division (EOD) here found seven land mines, three of which had been detonated, but not before disrupting traffic along the Maharlika Highway in Barangay Pawili on Thursday.
Ninth Infantry Brigade spokesperson Lt. Col. Florante Isles said the recovery of the mines began at 6 a.m. Thursday after a civilian, whom he refused to name for security reasons, discovered the explosives hidden in the grass beside the highway.
Vehicles coming from other parts of Southern Luzon and headed for Albay usually traverse the road.
Isles said the seven improvised, remote-controlled land mines, which were powerful than a grenade, were remnants of a land mine explosion that occurred in the same area last Monday.
During the earlier blast, a military service vehicle headed for Naga City in Camarines Sur was damaged while a member of the Army’s 65th Infantry Brigade, identified as Pfc. Soliman Puddin, was seriously injured.
“Fortunately, the service vehicle was running fast. If not, there could have been casualties in that ambush, which were obviously perpetrated by the NPA (New People’s Army),” alleged Isles.
Maj. Ramon Rosario, chief of the AFP Civil Relations Unit in Bicol, assured the public that government forces would intensify patrols, visitations and forums in the communities “so it could assess the real situation and immediately respond to the people’s security needs.”
Ephraim Aguilar, PDI Southern Luzon Bureau
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