Thursday, March 18, 2004
Family claims Ka Alvin’s body
THE slain Cebuano rebel, earlier known only as Ka Alvin, was finally identified and his family claimed his body yesterday morning.
Maj. Raul Mendez, 302nd Infantry Brigade civil military operations officer, identified him as
Elwin Larrobis, a resident of Sitio Lawis, Block 8, Alaska, Mambaling, Cebu City.
Mendez said Larrobis’ sister Lilibeth claimed the remains from the Batuan town hall in Bohol Province.
Larrobis and Ramil Itim, a Boholano, were tagged as members of the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
They were killed during an encounter with government troops in a mountain village of Batuan town last Sunday morning.
2-hour firefight
Sgt. Medardo Modelo, a member of the 6th Special Forces Battalion, was also killed in action in that two-hour firefight.
Meanwhile, the military recovered another body, also believed to be a red fighter, from last Sunday’s encounter site, bringing to three the number of slain rebels.
But the victim, whose body still lies in state in Batuan town hall, remained unidentified as of yesterday.
Mendez called on the local National Democratic Front (NDF), CPP’s political wing, to help in identifying the third slain rebel.
Raid
“What they did to Ka Bino (NPA Central Visayas spokesman Silvino Clamucha) after the NDF claimed and identified him should also be done to the ordinary NPA guerillas,” said Mendez in a mobile phone interview.
Clamucha, a native of Balilihan town, Bohol, was killed when soldiers raided the NPA Chocolate Hills Command in Catigbian town last week. He was buried in his hometown last Saturday.
The Central Command considered the death of Ka Bino a major setback in the CPP-NPA leadership in Central Visayas. GC
(March 18, 2004 issue)
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