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Friday, December 13, 2002
NPAs attack camp, kill 4 Army soldiers
By Mia E. Abellana
CEBU -- Four soldiers were gunned down by at least 30 suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels at 5:30 a.m. Thursday in Sitio Siotes, Barangay Caurasan, Carmen town, in the eighth rebel-related attack in northern Cebu since last year.
The exchange of gunfire lasted about 35 minutes, according to the lone survivor, Corporal Adriano Gonzalez, 31, who got injured.
Gonzalez, Sgts. Eugenio Quemado, Eduardo Mandal, Buenaventura Hora, and Pfc Romy Ladrillono, all members of the 78th Infantry Battalion, were stationed at the barangay day-care center and barangay hall when the rebels opened fire.
The NPA members overpowered the soldiers by using high-powered machine guns, then later fled with the slain soldiers’ firearms.
The Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) ordered its men to set up checkpoints and plug all possible exits, following the attack, but none of the raiders were arrested as of last night.
Just a day before the attack, three paramilitary volunteers and a fourth civilian were killed when suspected rebels ambushed a band of soldiers on their way to a fiesta in Bohol province.
The attacks further doomed efforts to strike a ceasefire between the government and the rebels during the holidays, as practised in previous years.
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CCP) celebrates its anniversary on Dec. 26. The NPA, which marks its anniversary in March yet, is under the CCP.
Despite the attack, 78th IB Commander Lt. Col. Jonas Sumagaysay said they are not pulling out their troops in the mid-north area but will even be reinforcing them.
He also said militant groups were probably behind the attack as they have been calling for the pullout of the 78th IB soldiers.
“That is exactly what they want, for us to be out of the northern barangays. That is why they launched a tactical offensive against our battalion,” Sumagaysay said.
Firefight
Bullets coming from .60 caliber machine guns rained on the roofs and walls of the two barangay structures following a string of rocket grenades from M203 launchers.
The rebels had the buildings surrounded and first attacked from higher ground.
As soldiers have always been ordered to hold the line during encounters until reinforcements arrive, Gonzalez said they all returned fire.
Gonzalez and Quemado were at the day-care center while team leader Hora, Mandal and Landrillono were in the barangay hall.
First to fall was Ladrillono, who was about to prepare breakfast when the rebels attacked.
All five regrouped at the barangay hall after the rebels, who had been firing from at least 50 meters away, began moving forward.
Gonzalez told reporters that the rebels were aggressive in their attack and occupied the day-care center.
One by one, they tried to get out through the front side of the barangay hall, but they were met with gunfire from rebels armed with M-14 and M-16 rifles.
Hora made it as far as the nearby homes and died in the arms of a 15-year-old boy.
Landrillano died while he was still in the barangay hall while Mandal and Quemado were killed at the hall’s front door.
The other residents helped Gonzalez and lent him a cellular phone so that he could contact Alpha Company Commander Sgt. Allan Margarata to send reinforcements from the detachment in Danao City.
Gonzalez said it took about 50 minutes before the reinforcements arrived.
The area is about 20 kilometers away from the national highway and about an hour and 30 minutes drive due to the muddy and rocky road.
“Kahit na patay na ang mga kasama ko, lumalaban pa rin ako, hanggang wala na akong marinig,” Gonzalez told reporters. (Even if my companions were already dead, I continued fighting until I could no longer hear gunfire.)
While he was not sure if there were any fatalities on the rebel side, he said he was sure the soldiers hit some of them because of the bloodstains in the area.
He said the rebels must have finished off his companions when they took their firearms.
Ready for attack
Taken from the dead soldiers were four M-14 rifles, one M-203 grenade launcher, one M-16 rifle and all remaining ammunition.
Gonzalez believes that the rebels were already in their posts the night before. Residents strengthened this claim after they noted the presence of eggshells and hanging rice (puso) surrounding the area.
Before the attack, residents said members of the militant group Karapatan were in the area to inquire about alleged military abuses.
Caurasan Barangay Captain Nesirato Andales said that Diolita Gato and Nelson Patalinghug arrived at around noon last Tuesday and introduced themselves as members of Karapatan Central Visayas.
Four more members arrived the next day. They left at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Aside from the six, Andales said there were no other reported newcomers in their area.
The police units of Danao City and the towns of Tuburan, Compostela, and Balamban went on heightened alert immediately after report of the attack reached the provincial command.
Senior Supt. Maximo Calimlim, CPPO director, said the hospitals and other medical centers should be checked “for possible admission of wounded fighters.” It was reported that some of the rebels were wounded during the firefight.
Police stations of the rest of 47 towns and four component cities under Cebu province were also told to keep a tight watch in case the rebels will stage a diversionary attack.
Sumagaysay said he has more men than what the NPA has but the rebels found their “weakest link” by attacking the battalion’s mobile detachment.
Gonzalez’s group has been in the area for six months.
They are not stationed in one place as they are tasked to scour the mountains for rebel activity.
Seven soldiers compose the group but two of the officers had asked permission to spend the night elsewhere.
Gonzalez, a native of Dulig, Labrador, Pangasinan, has spent seven years in the Army and has seen three other encounters prior to yesterday’s. With Rene H. Martel/Sun.Star Cebu
(December 13, 2002 issue)
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