Wednesday, September 03, 2008 Rebels burn truck, take 3 cops hostage By Ben O. Tesiorna
NEW People's Army (NPA) members burned a dump truck and took three policemen hostage during a morning rampage in the gold rush mountain of Diwalwal on Tuesday.
Reports showed that about 40 communist rebels under Ka Daryl of the NPA's Front Guerilla Unit 20 put up a checkpoint at sitio Onggoyan in Barangay Mt. Diwata around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday before swooping in on the mining area.
The truck was owned by the Philippine Minerals Development Corporation.
The hostages were identified as PO3 Rogelio Etrata, PO3 Jerry Realino, and PO2 Hector Culaste. The three were on duty at the Mt. Diwata police outpost when captured by the armed rebels.
The Eastern Mindanao Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said hot pursuit operation is ongoing against the rebels.
Elements of the Army's 28th Infantry Battalion are now conducting pursuit and blocking operations in the area.
