• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Several days after the successive encounters between government forces and remnants of the New People’s Army (NPA), about 100 individuals have preferred to stay at the evacuation center in Barangay Pinapugasan, Escalante City, Negros Occidental, Lt. Col. J-Jay Javines, spokesperson of the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, said on Monday.
Javines said that the pursuit operations against the fleeing rebels are still underway while the encounter sites are being cleared, with no sightings of rebel remnants reported.
The remaining displaced residents may now return to their respective homes as he advised them to seek coordination also with the 79th Infantry Battalion (IB).
About 160 families, composed of 600 individuals, from the hinterlands of Escalante City and Toboso town displaced by the series of encounters returned to their respective homes on Feb. 23.
The Philippine Army logged eight encounters with remnants of the dismantled NPA Northern Negros Front in Barangay Pinapugasan on Feb. 21 and 22, that also claimed the lives of three NPA rebels and injured three Army soldiers and a government militiaman.
An airstrike was also conducted by the Philippine Air Force on Feb. 22 to support the 79IB in the conduct of pursuit operations against the NPA, who had occupied an advantage position during the series of encounters.
Javines dismissed reports of an unexploded ordnance in the area as he clarified that the attack gunships used rockets in firing at the rebel stronghold, not bombs. | GB
