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Monday, March 20, 2006
2 of 20 rebels, soldier slain in clash
CEBU CITY -- Army and police troops clashed with around 20 suspected rebels Sunday morning in the mountain boundaries of Tabuelan and Sogod.
A soldier and two "key personalities" of the New People's Army (NPA) Central Visayas Regional Party Committee (CVRPC) were slain in the encounter at 7:21 a.m. in Sitios Kalumbrisan and Alang-alang, Barangay Dalid, Tabuelan, about 12 kilometers away from the town proper.
A police detachment in Malasibog, Escalante, Negros Occidental was also attacked at 6:30 a.m. Sunday.
Central Command spokesperson Jefferson Omandam requested that the slain soldier, ranked private first class, not be named until his family is officially informed of the incident.
Police identified the slain rebels as Jimmy Badayos, alleged secretary of CVRPC's Front 2, and Guillermo Alburo, another officer.
Front 2 covers Cebu's mid-north area.
They recovered from the two rebels an M16 rifle, cellular phone, and "voluminous documents with political undertones."
Omandam could not immediately confirm how many crimes the two have been linked to, but he is sure they were wanted by law.
Elements of the 78th Infantry Battalion (IB) and the Tabuelan Police Station launched an operation against suspected rebels after a civilian informant reported their presence.
SPO1 Ramon Montecalvo and PO3 Wilson Abot of the Tabuelan police, with the civilian informant, led the 78th IB's Bravo and Charlie Companies to the area.
Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) Director Vicente Loot told Sun.Star Cebu that they first received information of the presence of a platoon (30 persons) of NPA rebels in Barangays Bondo Guwa and Bondo Proper in Borbon last week.
They were reportedly in the area to attack weak Army detachments and police stations.
Loot said that since then, members of the Philippine Army have been scouring the mid-north area in search of the rebels.
He said this led to the recovery of an M16 rifle and an M14 rifle from Betillano and Milagros Aton of Sitio Little Baguio, Barangay Bagtik, San Remigio last March 13.
Militant group Bayan Muna had condemned the arrest of the couple, saying 15 men from the 78th IB ransacked the house and recovered the firearms 100 meters away from the house.
Bayan Muna's Arman Perez claimed they were members of their group.
However, Lieutenant Colonel Jessie Alvarez claimed that the two were picked up for questioning and were released Thursday.
After getting fresh information on the whereabouts of the rebels Saturday afternoon, the teams began another search in Tabuelan.
Although the latest rebel sighting was last week yet, Loot said he already requested augmentation from the Regional Mobile Group (RMG) in Central Visayas for some mid-north police stations that had only a few policemen some months back.
Loot said Tabuelan was one of the stations he considers has a weak defense.
He admitted that they constantly receive information of movements in the mountains of the town.
PO1 Rey Suson of the Tabuelan Police Station also said they always receive information about armed men passing by.
This time, they were given clear information that they could immediately act on.
After the encounter, Loot ordered all police stations in the mid-north, far north and eastern side to conduct checkpoints and find out if wounded persons were sent to hospitals in their areas of responsibility.
They also checked vehicles that probably had wounded persons on board.
Loot said they already had an agreement with the Philippine Army that all mountain pursuits will be the military's responsibility, while highways and urban areas will be left to the police.
The slain soldier's body was brought to the Central Command in Cebu City while the bodies of the two rebels remained at the town's gymnasium, in case relatives wanted to claim the bodies. The town has no funeral parlor.
In Escalante City, an unknown number of communist rebels attacked the 1st Provincial Mobile Group police detachment in Malasibog, taking two M16 rifles, two M14 rifles, an M60 rifle and two .30 MI Garands.
Army troops with members of the Citizens' Armed Forces Geographical Units pursued the fleeing rebels. (MEA of Sun.Star Cebu/Sunnex)
(March 20, 2006 issue)
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