The Philippine Army has tightened security measures at its headquarters following what it claimed to be a foiled attempt to spring a ranking communist rebel from detention.
A report by radio dzBB's Sam Nielsen on Thursday said Gate 2 of the Army's headquarters in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City will be only partially open.
The report added that the Army will also subject persons and vehicles entering its headquarters to stricter inspection procedures.
Philippine Army spokesman Col. Antonio Parlade Jr. said security also remains tight at the Fort Bonifacio Hospital where captured New People's Army leader Tirso Alcantara is confined.
Alcantara head the Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee's Regional Operational Command and former spokesman of the Melito Glor Command and the Communist Party of the Philippines. He was captured by government forces in Lucena City early this month.
On Wednesday, the Army claimed to have foiled an attempt to spring Alcantara, with the arrest of an alleged NPA member who tried to sneak into Army headquarters.
The Army identified the NPA rebel as Romulo Luna, who it said was arrested Tuesday night after getting past sentry guards stationed at the camp’s Gate 2. Luna is reportedly a security escort of Alcantara.
Parlade said Luna initially denied that he is a member of the NPA, but later admitted his ties with the underground movement when he was identified by the five members of the Morong 43.
Two other men, believed to be Luna’s accomplices, stayed outside the gate and fled when Luna was apprehended, Parlade said.
Alcantara's release is among the conditions set by the National Democratic Front (NDF) for the resumption of peace negotiations with the government. — RSJ
