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Saturday, October 02, 2004
4 Davao Oriental policemen killed in ambush
By Rex C. Otero
DAVAO -- Four policemen were killed in a suspected communist guerrilla attack while on their way to the center of Barangay Baganga, Davao Oriental Friday morning.
New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas ambushed the policemen in Barangay Saoquegue, a few kilometers away from their camp, shooting two policemen dead, Provincial Police director Superintendent Catalino Cuy said.
The rebels snatched two other policemen who were later found dead on the outskirts of the village a few hours after the early morning ambush, Cuy added.
The policemen were on their way to the center of Baganga village to buy food supplies when attacked by around eight armed men.
Cuy identified the fatalities as Police Officers 1 Jose Marlon Abellanosa, Juan Gambong, Alfredo Cutaran and Ranolito Bunganoy, all belonging to 1105th Provincial Mobile Group (PMG) based in Barangay Saoquegue.
Initial investigation said the policemen were shot at close range when they slowed down upon reaching the under repair bridge in Barangay Baganga.
The suspects, police said could be members of the Front Committee 15 of the NPA led by one Mariano Bahinting alias Kumander Bunao.
Cuy said Gambong died on the spot while Cutaran was brought to the nearby hospital, but was declared dead upon arrival by attending physicians.
He said the suspects also took an M16 and three handguns of the victims.
Cuy said joint forces of the 30th Special Forces Company, 1105th PMG and Baganga municipal police station are now conducting a hot pursuit operation against the suspects.
Meanwhile, a civilian was killed and three soldiers wounded when NPA rebels ambushed a military convoy on the western island of Palawan on Wednesday.
The attack occurred near the town of Taytay as the soldiers were delivering supplies to a military detachment.
The lone civilian fatality had hitched a ride with one of the army trucks.
Elsewhere, government troops shot dead a member of a breakaway communist guerrilla faction in a clash near the town of Arayat, north of Manila on Thursday.
The 8,600-strong NPA and its political leadership, the Communist Party of the Philippines has been waging a 35-year Maoist armed campaign.
The party announced in August that it was suspending peace talks with the government because of Manila's alleged failure to persuade Western countries to remove the rebels from their lists of international terrorists. (with AFP)
(October 2, 2004 issue)
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