Suspected New People’s Army rebels clad in military uniform abducted two policemen from a police station in Placer town, Surigao del Norte Monday afternoon.
The victims—PO2 John Paul Doverte and PO2 Alfred Degamon Jr.—are both members of the Placer Municipal Police Station.
The two were manning their outpost at Bad-as Public Market, Brgy. Bad-as, Placer town when the abduction took place.
Major Ezra Balagtey, spokesperson of the Eastern Mindanao Command, said the victims were taken by at least 20 armed men who were on board two white vans.
Balagtey said joint police and military troops are now tracking down the rebels.
The two getaway vehicles were recovered in Brgy. Mabini hours after the incident.
“This incident runs contrary to the spirit of the peace talks that everyone is pushing for,” Balagtey said.
Duterte has terminated the peace negotiations with the communist rebels in February following a series of attacks by the NPA.
Meanwhile, NPA rebels abducted and killed an unarmed off-duty militiaman in Negros Oriental Monday morning.
Capt. Eduardo Precioso Jr., public affairs chief of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, said the Gelino Valloces, 52, was taken by the rebels at Brgy. Talalak in Sta. Catalina town.
The victim, assigned at the Cuadra Detachment of the Alpha Company in Siaton town, was abducted by at least 30 armed men.
Precioso said Valloces was found dead some 1.5 kilometers away from his house with bullet wounds in both knees and in his mouth.