Friday, March 02, 2007 Clash in Tagurano, not Eden By Ben O. Tesiorna and Carlo P. Mallo
THE Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) assured the public that the peace and order situation in Barangay Tagurano, Toril District, Davao City has been restored.
Captain Louie Villanueva, operations officer of Task Force Davao, said the military has regained full control of the area and that it has deployed additional forces.
Sun.Star Davao received reports Thursday that some guests of Eden Nature Park, in Barangay Eden, cancelled their bookings after the Wednesday morning incident.
"The site of the clash, Barangay Tagurano, is kilometers away from the nature park," Villanueva said.
"We are conducting follow up operations in the area to ensure that no remnants of the NPA (New People's Army) are still there," said Villanueva in a phone interview Thursday.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Colonel Rolando Bautista, chief of the Army's 10th Infantry Division, said the military would continue its pursuit operations against NPA members in the hinterlands of Toril.
Two soldiers from Task Force Davao were killed in Wednesday's clash. The initial ncounter was in Sitio Concepcion, Barangay Tagurano, Toril.
The casualties were identified as Conrado Nequias and Gary Lopez.
After the encounter, additional troops from 73rd IB were redeployed to track fleeing NPAs.
The platoon of 2nd Lieutenant Ulyses Mendoza, which engaged the enemy, searched he encounter site and recovered one M14 rifle and assorted rounds of ammunitions.
The troops also captured two improvised landmines, medical paraphernalia, ssorted campaign materials of Bayan Muna Party List, voluminous subversive documents and personal belongings.
The recovered items were brought to Task Force Davao.
Bloodstains were observed scattered all over the NPA position indicating that the enemy suffered heavy casualty. (With Peng Aliño)
