A ranking leader of the New People’s Army and three of her comrades died in an encounter with combined troopers of the Army and police in Hacienda Builder, Brgy. San Pablo, Manapla, Negros Occidental.
Brig. Gen. Inocencio Pasaporte, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, yesterday identified one of the four slain rebels as Marilyn Badayos, former secretary of the dismantled South East Front of the Komiteng Rehiyonal-Negros/Cebu/Bohol/Siquijor (KR-NCBS).
Badayos was arrested in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, and in Bacolod City, in past years, but had posted bail for her provisional liberty.
Her death came after the Philippine Army and the elite Special Action Force of the PNP neutralized two other top female cadres of the KR-NCBS, within a month.
Kerima Lorena Tariman, secretary of the newly-dismantled Northern Negros Front, died Aug. 20 in an encounter with 79th Infantry Battalion soldiers in Brgy. Kapitan Ramon, Silay City, while Nilda Natan Bertulano, secretary of the South West Front, was captured in a gunbattle with SAF commandos Sept. 14 in Brgy. Tabu, Ilog, all in Negros Occidental.
Badayos, who headed the KR-NCBS Taxation Bureau, and nine of her comrades, were engaging in extortion activities when they were encountered by soldiers, who responded to information from civilians on their presence in the area, Pasaporte said.
He said that no one from the 79IB was hurt in the gun-battle, adding that soldiers also recovered a .45 caliber pistol, two fragmentation grenades, and a .38 caliber revolver with ammunition from the encounter site.
SURRENDERERS
Meanwhile, three self-confessed members of the NPA surrendered to the 79th IB, following the visit of Maj. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, 3rd Infantry Division commander, to the headquarters of the 303rd IB in Murcia, Negros Occidental Sept. 28.
Lt. Col. J-Jay Javines, 79IB commander, presented the three rebels he identified through their aliases as Ka Jamil, squad leader of the former Northern Negros Front, his wife, Ka Mia/Baliling, who used to be a member of the NNF Educational Staff, and alias Dan, to Arevalo and Pasaporte.
The three surrendered an Ingram automatic pistol and a .38 caliber revolver with ammunition.
Pasaporte said that Escalante City Mayor Melecio Yap, who heads the local Task Force ELCAC, or Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict, facilitated the surrender of the rebels.
Already fed up with the false promises of the NPA, further aggravated by the leadership problem of the late Tariman alias Ka Ella, who denied their immediate medical request to undergo treatment, the three decided to abandon the armed struggle, Pasaporte added.
He claimed that the three became disgruntled with the policies, directives, and decisions of alias Ella, who instructed them to kill innocent civilians without any consultations and concrete proof of evidence of being government informants.
Pasaporte commended the79IB, in tandem with the Escalante City Task Force ELCAC, in the aggressive campaign to bring back rebels to the fold of the law.
Arevalo praised the bravery and courage of the three rebels, who formally surrendered to him during his visit in Murcia, and described this as a significant event that will affect the credibility of the CPP-NPA, who always brag that they are gaining strength. – GB
