UPDATED - Two suspected New People's Army (NPA) members were killed while another was apprehended after an encounter with government troops on Saturday, April 21, in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur, a military official said Sunday.
Lieutenant Colonel Rhojun Rosales, commander of the Army's 39th Infantry Battalion, said a soldier, identified as Corporal Kenneth James Balicot of the 2nd Scout Ranger Battalion, was also wounded during the clash at around 11:30 a.m., Saturday in Sitio Bayongon in Barangay Astorga in Sta. Cruz.
Rosales identified one of the slain rebels as Julito Pueblas alias Taghoy, who allegedly served as the commanding officer of the Sentro de Grabidad, Guerrilla Front 51, Southern Mindanao Regional Committee.
He said the troops captured Pueblas, who was wounded, at around 5 p.m. on Saturday. The rebel leader allegedly expired "while in transit" to the hospital.
The soldiers also captured Jessa Lumana, who was allegedly hiding in the bushes while the soldiers were conducting clearing operations following the firefight with the rebels.
Near Lumana was the body of another suspected rebel, who has yet to be identified.
Rosales said the firefight ensued when the troops responded to reports from concerned citizens about the presence of suspicious armed men in their area.
Recovered from the encounter site were an M-16 assault rifle, three improvised explosive devices, two rifle grenades and flags of the National Democratic Front, political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines, and the Bagong Hukbong Bayan.
Rosales said the NPA members who figured in the encounter were part of the Guerrilla Front 51 of the NPA’s Southern Regional Committee under Greg Magbanua, also known as Macky.
Major Ezra Balagtey, Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) information officer, said Lumana was brought to a hospital in Sta. Cruz, Davao Del Sur for medical checkup and was later turned over to the police for legal processing.
The remains of Pueblas and of the unidentified slain NPA rebel will be turned over to the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office and, subsequently, to their family after the SOCO procedure by the PNP Crime Laboratory.
Balagtey said Taghoy’s group was responsible for the ambush of an ambulance sometime in March 2014 in Managa, Bansalan, Davao Sur, while Taghoy was responsible for the liquidation of a certain Raul Alang in Sta Cruz on February 5, 2018.
Earlier this month, Balagtey said the same group was prevented from conducting atrocities in Digos City after troops of the 39th Infantry Battalion encountered them in Barangay Goma in Digos City. (Third Anne Peralta-Malonzo and Bong Garcia/SunStar Philippines with Ivy C. Tejano/SunStar Davao)