[PhilStar] Communist militants seized the deputy police chief of President Roxas town in North Cotabato late Thursday. Menardo Cui was off-duty and drinking with friends in the town proper when the insurgents arrived, herded him at gunpoint to their vehicle, and left.The military and the provincial police have launched a search for the group that kidnapped Cui. There is a strong presence of the New People’s Army in North Cotabato's neighboring Magpet, President Roxas and Arakan towns.
Provincial police spokesman Bernard Tayong on Friday said intelligence agents are trying to identify the militants that seized Cui. Officials of the army’s 39th Infantry Brigade are certain Cui’s abductors are NPA guerrillas.
Regional military spokesman Capt. Silver Belvis said they have enlisted the help of traditional community elders in Magpet, President Roxas and Arakan in their search for Cui and his captors.
The NPA reportedly has a list of people targeted for assassination. The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), during its 49th anniversary last Tuesday, provided the NPA with the targets. The CPP said the NPA should concentrate its attacks in eastern Mindanao and then in Luzon and the Visayas regions.