Classes, work resume in San Nicolas town after PNP-NPA clash

Mayor Rebecca Saldivar said the situation in San Nicolas is now back to normal after assurance from police that the situation in all towns of Pangasinan’s sixth district is under control.
(PNA photo)

SAN NICOLAS, Pangasinan, July 31 (PNA)—  Classes in all public and private schools as well as work in government offices resumed here Monday after an encounter last Friday between police and New People’s Army (NPA) rebels.

Mayor Rebecca Saldivar said the situation in San Nicolas is now back to normal after assurance from police that the situation in all towns of Pangasinan’s sixth district is under control.

Saldivar also called for a stop to spreading rumors and lies in social media that could fan fear and panic.

Chief Inspector Norman Florentino, chief of the police-community relations branch of the Pangasinan Police Provincial Office (PPO), dismissed as “hoax” the information spread through text messages and social media posts that NPA rebels abducted the mayor of San Quintin town and harassed pupils and teachers of one school in Natividad town.

“You should not believe in all these disinformation because these are all false and without basis,” Florentino said in Filipino.

On Friday, a firefight ensued between elements of the Regional Public Safety Battalion 1 (RPSB 1) and a band of NPA rebels Friday morning in the mountainous barangays of Sta. Maria and Malico in San Nicolas.

The clash resulted in the death of PO2 Aries Tamondong, while another trooper PO2 Jonielon Marius Bagcal got wounded.

Florentino said joint elements from police and military had captured the rebels’ hideout.

Florentino also lauded Tamondong’s courage and heroism. The fallen police is a father of four and from Manaoag, Pangasinan.

(Leonardo V. Micua/PNA)