Bohol has maintained its “insurgency-free” status for at least a decade. However, the insurgency-free status of Bohol may be in peril as far as Police Regional Police Director Brig. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro is concerned.
The top police official in the region has observed a rise in the activities of the communists-terrorist groups (CTG), such as the New People’s Army (NPA) and may end up with Bohol losing its “insurgency-free” status.
Ferro was in he Bohol Police Provincial Office (BPPO). He also had a command
visit with provincial police officials at Camp Francisco Dagohoy, Tagbilaran City.
Clarito said that currently, the province remains insurgency-free based on government security forces’ standards.
However, Ferro has been seeing a resurgence of the CTG activities here Bohol for the past three (3) years. He said that there are some indicators that the communist insurgents have shown some semblance of activity in the province.
These indicators include the following: the presence of the CTG members, discovery of CTG lairs in remote areas in the province, encounters between the CTG members and the police or military forces, alleged liquidation of barangay officials purportedly done by the CTG members, and the information coming from captured CTG members.
The most recent encounter between the CTG and the state security forced happened which resulted in some fatalities on both sides. This was on February 29, 2020 where members of the communist insurgency group NPA engaged in a firefight with the 47th Infantry Battalion (IB). The firefight resulted in a soldier and a suspected rebel being shot and killed.
Ferro is saying that these incidents are indicators that the remaining members of the CTG here in Bohol are trying to regain their previous strength and influence in the communities where they are operating.
Moreover, Ferro is hopeful that Bohol will be able to maintain its insurgency-free status as the provincial government is doing its best to counter the CTG’s efforts to gain a headway and revive their movement in the province.
Back in February 2010, under the administration of the late and former Bohol governor Erico Aumentado, the province was declared to be “insurgency-free”