- GILBERT BAYORAN
More armed engagements ensued between government soldiers and suspected New People’s Army rebels in Negros Island, as the rebel death toll rose to 10, with more guns and other war materials recovered in six encounters from May 19 to 21.
Of the 10 rebel fatalities, whose cadavers were left behind by their fleeing comrades, five were retrieved at the two encounter sites in Moises Padilla, and one in Cauayan, all in Negros Occidental, and four in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental, the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division said.
In six separate encounters that involved the 62nd, 11th, and 15th infantry battalions, which confronted members of the Central Negros 1, or the remnants of the dismantled South East Front and South West Front of the Komiteng Rehiyonal Negros/ Cebu/Bohol/ Siquijor, government forces recovered various firearms and other war materials.
Among those recovered were 16 assorted firearms, including three M16 assault rifles, an M4 Firebird assault rifle, a caliber 30 Browning Automatic Rifle, four caliber 45 pistols, three caliber 38 revolvers, an Uzi machine pistol, two 12 gauge shotguns, four Improvised Explosives Devices (IEDs) with detonating cords, eight rifle grenades, a 40mm grenade launcher ammunition, and a fragmentation grenade.
2Lt.Mary Liza Joy De Guzman, 62IB Civil Military Operations officer, said that two other rebels, whose four comrades died in a gun-battle Sunday in Brgy. Trinidad, Guihulngan City, also surrendered, after more than 20 minutes of armed skirmishes.
That same day, an encounter in Brgy. Caliling, Cauayan, Negros Occidental resulted in the death of a still unidentified rebel, while 15IB troopers recovered a 45 caliber pistol, an anti-personnel mine with a detonating device, and a blasting cap.
Another encounter between 11th IB soldiers and six remnants of the dismantled South East Front in Sitio Undol, Brgy. Talalak, Santa Catalina, Negros Oriental, likewise led to the recovery of two anti-personnel mines with detonating cords, a 38 caliber revolver, and a 40mm grenade launcher ammunition.
De Guzman reported that the five rebels, who died in two separate gun-battles with 62IB soldiers in Brgy. Quintin Remo, Moises Padilla, have already been identified and claimed by their respective families.
Not a single Army soldier was hurt in the six encounters.
Lt. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, commander of the AFP Visayas Command, in a statement, said that the series of debacles suffered by the NPA is the result of their active convergence with the people and Negros Island local government units.
Still, Arevalo said that the door of opportunity for the NPA remnants to return to the folds of the law remains open “as we do not want another lives to be wasted”.
He also pointed out “this is never going to stop”, as the Viscom chief vowed to continue pushing for focused military operations and “to push harder, until justice is served for the atrocities that the terrorist group has committed to our people”./GB
