• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Soldiers of the Philippine Army recovered high-powered firearms following renewed armed clashes with a group of New People’s Army rebels in Sitio Bulasot, Barangay Buenavista, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental yesterday.
The two encounters resulted in the recovery of two M653 assault rifles with six magazines containing ammunition, a link of 7.62 mm ammunition, a bandoleer and two backpacks containing personal belongings and subversive documents,
Capt. Eduardo Rarugal, civil-military operations (CMO) officer of 94th Infantry Battalion (IB), said none among the troops was hurt in the armed skirmishes.
However, pursuit operations were still ongoing as of last night.
Lt. Col. JJay Javines, CMO officer of the 3rd Infantry Division, said the first encounter took place at about 8:15 a.m. yesterday, after 94IB soldiers responded to reports on the presence of armed rebels in the area.
Javines said the firefight lasted for about 10 minutes, which prompted the rebels to withdraw to the northern portion of the encounter site.
An hour after, pursuing Army soldiers caught up with some rebels, which triggered another gunbattle that lasted for about five minutes, he added.
Lt. Col. Van Donald Almonte, commander of 94IB, lauded the timely information from barangay residents which, he said, led to the successful military operations against rebel remnants in central Negros.
Almonte said the help of villagers is a clear manifestation that the NPA remnants have lost their control over their mass bases. Last week, six suspected NPA rebels also died in an encounter with 47th Infantry Battalion soldiers in Sitio Lubi, Barangay Tabugon of the neighboring Kabankalan City. | GB
