LINGAYEN—The members of the provincial board expressed their individual serious concern over the peace and order situation in the eastern boundaries of Pangasinan and it prompted them to invite police and military officials in their Question Hour this week for a briefing on the level of threat posed by New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in that part of the province.

But after a deliberation on the issue, the board members had a change of heart.

They decided to postpone the plan to invite Provincial Police Director P/Sr. Superintendent Ronald Lee, the commanding officer of Regional Public Safety Battalion 1 (RPSB1), the chief of police of San Nicolas town and the commanding officer of the Philippine Army stationed near San Nicolas for a later date to allow an ongoing investigation to be completed.

“It is proper and fitting to just wait for the result of their investigation before we invite the personalities involved not to exacerbate the situation,” Sixth District Board Member Noel Bince said.

The briefing was sought initially by Bince himself on account of the July 28 encounter between elements of the RPSB1 and NPA members in San Nicolas town that resulted in the death of one RPSB member and the wounding of another.

Bince said residents in eastern Pangasinan continue to be alarmed and worried by what appears to be a continuing threat posed by the NPA in the area exacerbated by the spread of fake news in social media that the town mayor of San Quintin was abducted and pupils of one elementary school in Natividad town were held hostaged.

Then came the report, he said, that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) district office is abandoning the construction of the unfinished portion of the Villa Verde Trail that will soon link San Nicolas with Sta. Fe, Nueva Vizcaya because of the threat on the lives of workers by the NPA.

The road is set for completion by December this year but because workers are afraid to report for work, completion of the project will be delayed further.

One official at the engineering district in Pangasinan suggested that since DPWH cannot assure the safety of workers from the NPA, the Army Construction Brigade should be tasked to complete the project.

Bince said there were also earlier reports of sightings of NPA rebels in San Nicolas but these were ignored by the Pangasinan police. (Leonardo Micua/Tita Roces)

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