- GILBERT BAYORAN
A 50-man Light Reaction Company (LRC), composed of elite and highly-trained troops of the AFP Special Operations Command, has been deployed to Negros, to monitor the remaining suspects in the assassination of former Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo.
This was confirmed Friday by Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez and AFP chief of staff, Gen. Andres Centino, during a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo.
Galvez said the 50-man especially trained strong LRC was involved in the Battle of Marawi.
One of the four arrested suspects in the assassination of Degamo, former Army Sgt. Joven Javier, used to be a member of the Light Reaction Company of the Special Operations Command. The three others are also former Army soldiers.
Centino, in the press briefing, also announced the creation of a joint task force, composed of two Army brigades and six battalions, to implement the orders of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to step up the joint military and police operations against the suspects and prevent the escalation of lawless violence in Negros Oriental.
Centino designated Brig. Gen. Marion Sison, 3rd Infantry Division commander, as the JTF head, to be assisted by Brig. Leonardo Peña and Col. Odie Edralin, commanders of the 302nd and 303rd infantry brigades, respectively.
Marcos has also ordered the Department of National Defense to “suppress criminal activities and impunity” in the entire Negros Island, to give justice to the families of Degamo and eight others killed March 4, and to help restore normalcy in Negros Oriental.
The arrest of the four suspects in Bayawan City, Negros Oriental, yielded high powered firearms, explosives, and anti-tank rocket propelled grenades.
Meanwhile, the Police Regional Office 7 also relieved all policemen assigned in the police stations of Bayawan City, Santa Catalina, and Valencia, and replaced them with police officers from Cebu./GB
