The Philippine National Police (PNP) Regional Office 18 (PRO-18) in the Negros Island Region is digging deeper into the details and other circumstances surrounding the July 21 ambush I Guihulngan, Negros Oriental that left six police personnel and a civilian dead.
Sr. Supt. Petronelli Baldebrin, deputy regional director for operations of PRO-18, disclosed Thursday afternoon that Negros Oriental acting provincial director Sr. Supt. Henry Biñas has requested that PRO-18 issue orders for the activation of the Special Investigations Task Group (SITG) to investigate the ambush.
Sr. Supt. Biñas will be the SITG commander while Sr. Supt. Baldebrin will be the SITG supervisor.
The SITG was convened Friday to discuss initially how it will start the investigation into the ambush and go deeper in getting as much information to help the police determine the circumstances behind it, said Baldebrin.
According to Baldebrin, initial police investigation showed that around 60 suspected Communist terrorists of the New People’s Army had allegedly carried out the ambush in Sitio Mandii, Barangay Magsaysay in Guihulngan, around 10 a.m. last July 21.
But information gathered from different sources also disclosed that there were more alleged Communist terrorists positioned at strategic locations close to the ambush site as back-up, which made the police believe that in all, there were more or less 100 of them, Baldebrin added.
Also, it was confirmed that at least one female fighter was with the armed group, he said.
Quoting one of the three wounded policemen who are currently recuperating at a Dumaguete hospital, Sr. Supt. Baldebrin said this policeman was “spared” by the woman, after he pleaded for his life because he had a family to support.
The woman acquiesced and told them in the dialect to go get and medical treatment, said Baldebrin.
The suspects at close range finished off the other policemen.
During the daytime ambush in Sitio Mandii, the six policemen who were killed in a police operation (KIPO) were the police chief, Supt. Arnel Arpon, and five of his men, namely, SPO2 Necasio Pasculado Tabilon, SPO1 Jesael Pequero Ancheta, PO3 Teovic Gador Agosto, PO2 Alvin Paul Alquizola Bulandres and PO2 Alfredo Lastimoso Dunque.
The three wounded police personnel were SPO4 Jerome Delara, PO2 Jorie Maribao and PO3 Jordan Balderas.
Also killed in that ambush was Michael Jambalos, the driver-aide of Guihulngan City Councilor Edison Dela Rita.
Dela Rita and another companion managed to cheat death when they were the first to be ambushed by the alleged Communist terrorists around 8 o’clock in the morning.
The councilor called the Guihulngan city administrator for help, who in turn informed the police about the supposed ambush, which prompted the police to respond to the call for assistance.
The SITG hopes to delve deeper into the ambush as there are many questions that need answers, said Baldebrin.
For instance, it was not immediately known why the Communist terrorists managed to mobilize a group of that size and where they came from.
Police investigation showed that based on evidence like empty shells recovered from the crime scene, the perpetrators used high-powered firearms like M203, M-60 machine guns, M-4 rifles, AK-47 rifles and M-16 rifles, as well as caliber .45 pistols.
The responding policemen were prepared but it happened that “because of the deceit employed by the enemy, that is why they were outsmarted”, said Baldebrin.
The high-powered firearms and short arms of the police were carted away by the suspected terrorists.
Security has been tightened in Guihulngan, with the deployment of additional police, Army soldiers and the Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB) of the PNP and other maneuver forces.
Meanwhile, the PRO-18 has come up with a contingency plan following a meeting with the different police units in the Negros Island Region to prepare for any eventuality after an encounter between the Army soldiers and the Communist terrorists several weeks ago, said Baldebrin.
This came after it was learned following that encounter that the NPA was planning to attack police stations.
In fact, they had conducted simulation exercises at the police stations as well as with the maneuver forces like the RPSB and the Provincial Public Safety Company, according to Baldebrin. (Judy Flores Partlow)
