Two rebels killed, one soldier hurt in Holy Week clashes

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – Two alleged members of the New People’s Army (NPA) were killed while a soldier was wounded in separate encounters in Negros Island last Thursday.

In Negros Occidental, a certain “Johnny” was killed in a clash at Sitio San Juan, Barangay Caradio-an, Himamaylan City.

Johnny was an alleged squad leader of the NPA’s Squad 1, Sentro De Gabridad (SDG) Platoon of Central Negros 2 (CN2), Komiteng Rehiyon-Negros Cebu Bohol Siquijor (KR-NCBS)

Brigadier General Inocencio Pasaporte, commander of 303rd Infantry Brigade (IBde), said the 94th Infantry Battalion (IB) figured in a firefight past 5 a.m. with about 10 unidentified armed persons while the troops were conducting combat operations as response to reports on the alleged extortion activities in the area.

A soldier also suffered minor injuries and was already discharged from a hospital according to Pasaporte.

Recovered from the encounter site were two magazines of .45 caliber pistol, a hand grenade, a short magazine of M16 rifle, a tablet, medical kit, and a backpack.

Pasaporte believed that the group that was encountered by the Army was part of the ambush incident in Binalbagan town in February that left two policemen wounded.

“Amo ni sila ang nag split up sang nabal-an na gina track sila ka military,” Pasaporte said.

Since last month, about five encounters occurred in the city killing four suspected rebels, including a couple.

Later that day, another clash occurred at Sitio Tulong, Barangay Enrique Villanueva, Sibulan, Negros Oriental, after the 11th IB responded to the same report.

A few minutes later, the Army discovered the body of an alleged NPA member near the creek at the said place.

Aside from that, the Army also alleged that two other members of the NPA were also wounded in the encounter based on the blood stains seen in their withdrawal route.

Recovered from the encounter site were an M14 rifle, an M16A1 rifle with scope, a KG-9 rifle, three rifle grenade, five improvised explosive devices (IEDs), 10 pieces of 12-gauge ammunition, three magazines of M16 rifle, an M14 rifle magazine, a KG-9 magazine, four pieces of M203 ammunition, various subversive documents, and 12 backpacks.

The slain rebel remains unidentified as of this writing.