COMMUNIST hit squad members who terrorised the country during the 1980s and early 1990s have come out of self-imposed hibernation to become the most wanted outlaws in the Philippines.
The Alex Boncayao Brigade has claimed responsibility for three ambushes on Monday that killed Filipino-Chinese industrialist Leonardo Ty, 82, wounded Filipino-Chinese businessman Benjamin Yu and killed a visiting Singaporean boy and his police bodyguard.
Brigade commanding officer Sergio Romero and squad spokesman Marcial Jacinto apologised yesterday for killing five-year-old Jerry Tai, but said he had been mistaken in the front seat of a car for another Filipino-Chinese businessman.
President Fidel Ramos has declared war against the shadowy brigade, which claimed responsibility for more than 100 assassinations of allegedly corrupt policemen, soldiers and civilians since 1985, and then abruptly went quiet three years ago.
The President has set up a Taskforce on Crime headed by Interior and Local Government Secretary Rafael Alunan, Justice Secretary Teofisto Guingona and Defence Secretary Renato de Villa to hunt down the urban terrorist group plus several criminal gangs which have launched robbery campaigns during the Christmas season.
A force of 500 policemen - including veterans from the United Nations peace-keeping force in Haiti - have been deployed to track the brigade, whose counter-intelligence has so far managed to elude dozens of probes by the National Security Intelligence Agency and the National Bureau of Investigation.