Suspected NPAs killed in Negros Oriental clash

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – The New People’s Army (NPA) suffered a heavy blow in an Inter-Agency operation of the Army and the police, which killed five suspected rebels at Sitio Talingting, Brgy Luyang, Mabinay, Negros Oriental early Thursday.

Captain Cenon Pancito III, spokesperson of Army’s 3rd Infantry Division (ID), said barangay officials and concerned residents reported to the authorities the presence of a wanted personality, who was with a group of armed men inside two houses at Sitio Talingting.

Military troopers of the 11th Infantry Battalion (IB) and 94th IB, and personnel of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB)-7, and Mabinay Municipal Police Station were to serve an alias arrest warrant to Isaias Rabilista Sr., for violation of Republic Act 10591 (Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Law) when a burst of gunfire was heard.

Pancito said that the armed men believed to be NPAs allegedly fired at government forces, prompting them to retaliate.

He said that the firefight lasted for almost 30 minutes, which left five suspected rebels dead.

He said that only Rabilista was identified among the five fatalities as of this writing.

Rabilista was tagged in the ambush-slay of four cops at Barangay Mabato, Ayungon town last year.

The encounter resulted in the recovery of three M16 rifles, a AK47 with defaced serial number, a caliber .45 pistol with a defaced serial number, three AK47 magazines, four rifle grenades, an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), assorted magazines and ammunition, and voluminous subversive documents with high intelligence value.