Pfc. Rommel Compas, 27, was hit in the left knee. His companion, informant Joemric Lauron, was also injured when he fell on the motorcycle they were riding.
The two were taken to the Juan Dosado Memorial Hospital before they were transferred to Cebu City.
Lt. Col. Raymundo Bañares, commander of the 78th Infantry Battalion (IB), told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday that the Bravo Company of the 78th IB in Sogod town was informed that “dubious personalities” were seen in the area. Initial reports said an armed encounter had taken place in Catmon.
Compas and Lauron proceeded to Barangay Tabili, Catmon to verify the report. Tabili is on the border of Catmon and Sogod.
Motorcycle
Dressed in civilian clothes, Compas and Lauron boarded a motorcycle.
As they were headed down the road, they met the three men who were going uphill in the opposite direction.
The three then opened fire at the soldier, causing him to fall. A short gunfight ensued but the three were able to flee.
A joint team from the Sogod and Catmon police and the 78th IB conducted blocking forces yesterday.
Cebu Province has been placed under full alert following reports of the presence of armed Ilonggo-speaking “new faces” in Cebu’s mid-north.
Bañares said the perpetrators in yesterday’s shooting are not communist rebels.
The three men, all 19 years old, are allegedly the same men who killed businessman Galicano Montebon last month.
Montebon, who was headed for Barangay Pansoy, Sogod to trade farm animals on market day, had jumped off the motorcycle and tried to run when masked men blocked him and his driver along the way. They shot him dead. (MEA)
