BY JP LOPEZ

With the redeployment of military and police forces in North Cotabato, Sen. Rodolfo Biazon yesterday warned of holes in other parts of the country where national security must be addressed.

Biazon cited the more than 30 New People’s Army rebels who recently attacked Quezon province’s Panukulan town hall and took firearms and ammunition from the police office after the withdrawal of the AFP battalion for redeployment.

He said lessons must be learned from the all-out war mounted by former President Joseph Estrada in Central Mindanao, when battalions were withdrawn from Negros, Iloilo, Leyte, Samar and some areas in Luzon.

"After the withdrawal of forces from these areas for redeployment to Central Mindanao, these were taken advantage of by the NPA in Negros, Iloilo and other areas to the point that those units withdrawn for redeployment to Mindanao were hastily taken back," he said.

Brig. Gen. Jorge Segovia, acting chief of the AFP Command Center and the concurrent military spokesman on the conflict, said the areas left by the troops "will not be greatly affected by the movement."

Some of the troops were originally deployed in NPA-infested areas. – With Victor Reyes