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Army warns rebels use rice crisis
Communist
rebels are likely to capitalize on the rice crisis to regain
grounds in Bohol, but government soldiers are ready against
enemy recovery, warned an army official.
Capt.
Michael Colanta, commanding officer of the 4th Army Special
Forces Company, said they got reports of red fighters now
going "highly-mobile" in mass recruitment while
people start to ache over uncontrolled rise in the prices
of the staple food.
He
hinted of the possible use by the New People's Army (NPA)
of the food problem to get back people's support during his
brief Bohol peace and order situation report to a gathering
of town and barangay officials.
National
Food Authority (NFA) - Bohol Manager Nestor Rey Alcoseba assured,
meanwhile, that time cannot come when poor Boholanos line
up in panic because NFA is losing its last stock of cheap
government rice.
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People
may sweat out waiting in a long queue but simply because
they know - and are sure - that more NFA rice are coming,
the food official said.
Government
troopers are now countering the reported rebel recruitment
works by holding barangay security system (BSS) seminars
in different towns, specifically in interior Bohol,
since last month.
The
largely anti-insurgency Bohol Local Integrated Security
System (BLISS) has been intensified in pilot areas.
BLISS is also targeted against criminalities like dangerous
drugs peddling and illegal fishing.
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Colanta
belittled the present capacity of the NPA in Bohol to wage
actual combat.
Reports
they gathered placed the number of armed rebels in Bohol at
only "20 plus" today.
The
rebels still have, however, over 80 assorted firearms, most
of which believed to be part of those taken by the rebels
in a past army detachment raid in Batuan.
Colanta
identified local rebel leader Alberto Miano as one of the
few remaining NPA fighters operating in Bohol.
'The
enemies are trying hard to recover," the SF commander
said, "and we must crush their any reentry sign."
The
reported NPA reactivation and recruitment are believed immediately
aimed at reestablishing a solid masa in Bohol en route to
gradual build up of new combat arm.
Soldiers
said that, without the government aptly addressing people's
low plight, the poor and hungry can easily get angry and be
vulnerable to rebel ways. (Ven rebo Arigo)
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