Police in the town of Sevilla continued to verify reports which indicated that several armed men were spotted in a remote village of the town late last month.
According to PO3 Johnray Digao of the Sevilla Police Station, residents of Barangay Calinginan claimed seeing armed men passing through the barangay on January 29.
Those who reported the sighting believe that the men were members of the New People’s Army (NPA), Digao said.
However, he noted that police and military authorities have not yet validated the residents’ claim.
According to Digao, it was not the first time that they received a report on purported sightings of unidentified armed men in the town.
Police and personnel of the Philippine Army have previously responded to such information but they have not encountered any armed group, he said.
Earlier, government and military officials including Lt. Col. Eufracio Malig Jr., commander of the army’s 47th Infantry Battalion said that there have been no confirmed sightings of armed individuals in the province.
He however noted that the reports were being validated.
Some of the reports relayed to authorities last year indicated movements of suspicious armed personalities in the towns of San Miguel, Danao, Trinidad, Buenavista, Baclayon and Anda. (ad)