A member of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army was killed Tuesday morning in an encounter with troops of the Philippine Army’s 62nd Infantry Battalion in Barangay Trinidad, Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental.
Lt. Col. William Pesase, 62IB commanding officer, told the media in an interview that his troops acted on civilian information that armed men were monitored in the vicinity of Sitio Banderahan in Barangay Trinidad “conducting extortion activities and harassing residents in the area”.
At around 7 a.m., the responding soldiers engaged an estimated five NPA members in a five-minute gunfight in Sitio Banderahan, which sits on the boundary of Barangays Trinidad and Budlasan, he said.
The rebels fled afterward, leaving behind the body of their slain companion, he added.
The soldiers also recovered from the slain NPA member a .45-caliber pistol with ammunition.
Pesase said the armed NPA group belongs to the Central Negros 1 guerilla front of the Komiteng Rehiyon Negros, Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor.
“This is the same group whose members figured in previous clashes with government troops in Guihulngan and nearby areas late last year,” he said.
Members of the City Disaster Risk-Reduction & -Management Office, the local police, and Army troops have recovered the body of the deceased rebel from the mountain barangay and will be bringing it to a funeral parlor in the city proper.
His identity has yet to be established.
Pesase reiterated his call to the remaining members of the NPA to give up the protracted war and surrender so they can avail of the government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program.
“Otherwise, they will suffer the same fate as their fallen companions because we will continue with our relentless campaign against the communist insurgency,” he said. (Judy F. Partlow/PNA)
