By Glazyl Y. Masculino
BACOLOD City – A soldier who was wounded in a clash with suspected New People’s Army (NPA) combatants at Barangay Sandayao, Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental last Wednesday expired at the hospital the following day.
This was confirmed to Daily Guardian yesterday by Colonel Inocencio Pasaporte, commander of the Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade (IBde).
Pasaporte said the fatality was a native of Capiz with a rank of Private First Class. He refused to name the casualty, as they have yet to notify his family about his death.
Pasaporte said the soldier was extricated in the area on Thursday morning via chopper.
“He was stable naman until he was airlifted, but unfortunately, he succumbed to a gunshot wound in his body at the hospital,” he added.
Pasaporte said there was a short delay in the extrication because the ambulance could not penetrate the area following two firefights between the troopers of the 62nd Infantry Battalion (IB) and the NPA. It was also raining so hard in the area.
He said the soldier’s remains will be transported to his hometown on Saturday, November 7.
Meanwhile, the Leonardo Panaligan Command (LPC)-NPA, in a statement, said they conducted two tactical offensives against the 62nd IB in the said city, which resulted in the death of two soldiers and injuries to other troopers.
But the Army debunked the claim saying the troopers only suffered one casualty.
Ka JB Regalado, LPC-NPA spokesperson, said “these tactical offensives is our answer to the incessant gruesome activities that is constantly terrorizing the people of Central Negros.”
Regalado said that the NPA is ever-ready to launch more tactical offensives to heed the call for justice for all victims of state terrorism.
The rebel group also slammed the Army for the “forced or fake surrenders” of former rebels.
Pasaporte said that rebels who surrendered were not fake, as they revealed their affiliation to the NPA before.
He said that more than 20 former rebels already surrendered to the Army in Central Negros since September 2020.
