Army: 3 killed rebels in Binalbagan clash high-ranking officials

THREE of the four suspected rebels killed in a gun battle with government troops in Binalbagan town, Negros Occidental on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, were high-ranking officials of a communist terrorist group (CTG), an army official said.

Brigadier General Inocencio Pasaporte, commander of the 303rd Infantry Brigade, said Thursday, July 7, 2022, that Roel Sagon, 30, alias “Berio” served as the leader of Sentro De Grabidad Central Negros 2 Squad 3 while Rowel Udtuhan, 40, alias “Jing-Jing/Caloy” was his assistant.

Pasaporte said Sagon was from Barangay Buenavista while Udtuhan was from Barangay San Antonio both in Himamaylan City.

Military records showed that the lone female casualty, Nikka Ledesma, 20, of Cebu City, was the group’s political guide while the other casualty identified as Alden Rodriguez, 20, of Barangay Bantolinao in Manjuyod town, Negros Oriental was a member of the Squad 3.

They were identified through the help of their former colleagues who had already returned to the government fold.

“They were deceptively recruited for the ideology they do not even understand,” Pasaporte said, adding that it paints the true color of the CTGs that disregard the concern and human rights of the people by abandoning their dead members.

In a statement, Ka Juanito Magbanua, who is the spokesperson of the Apolonario Gatmaitan Command of the New People’s Army in Negros Island, debunked the claim of the military that an encounter took place.

Early Wednesday morning, 94th Infantry Battalion together with the 33rd Division Reconnaissance Company (DRC) raided a hut in Sitio Calunakon, Barangay Santol, Binalbagan town.

He said that a small unit of red fighters was temporarily seeking refuge at the hut after some of them contracted flu and other illnesses.

Magbanua claimed that the soldiers arrested four of them, who were barely armed and not in the position to give battle due to their health conditions.

“To conjure a scenario of an armed encounter, the soldiers fired their assault rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers as if they were in a gun battle at around 9:30 am in nearby Sitio Amelis in Barangay Biao,” the rebel leader said, stressing that it was a “fake encounter.”

Magbanua said this is a grave violation of the Geneva Conventions and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHIHL) and constitutes a war crime.

The army earlier reported that the three-minute gun battle at the hinterland area took place following a tip around 9 a.m. from concerned citizens that several armed individuals were sighted in the area of Sitio Amelis.

Three M16 rifles, one of which has an attached M203 Grenade Launcher, an AK-47 assault rifle, a .45 caliber pistol with magazine, two 40mm M203 live ammunition, 70 5.56mm, M16 live ammunition, 38 7.62mm M14 live ammunition, five M16 long magazines, two M16 long magazines, five M16 short magazines, five M14 magazines, an M16 magazine spring, two bolos and four bandoliers were recovered by the army from the encounter site.

The rebels, who split into two groups, also left their belongings and several subversive documents, the military said.

Meanwhile, a former CTG member was arrested by the personnel of the 3rd Mobile Platoon of 1st Negros Occidental Provincial Mobile Force Company (NOCPMFC) in Calatrava town, Negros Occidental on Wednesday afternoon.

Force commander Lieutenant Colonel Jay Malong said “Ka Ricky” has earlier returned to the government fold and was able to avail of the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-Clip) of the government for rebel returnees.

Malong said they learned that the 47-year-old resident of Sitio Ecugan of the town's Barangay Minapasok is wanted for frustrated murder.