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[av_heading heading=’ARMY, NPA CLASH | Leon ‘tanod’ wounded in crossfire’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY RUBY P. SILUBRICO
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Wednesday, June 21, 2017
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ILOILO City – Government troops and New People’s Army (NPA) rebels clashed in Barangay Lampaya, Leon, Iloilo two days after insurgents raided the police station in Maasin town.
A village watchman of Lampaya, Romeo Cabalong, was wounded on the left shoulder.
The firefight between troops of the Philippine Army’s 61st Infantry Battalion (61IB) – Alpha Company and the rebels erupted around 10:30 a.m. Cabalong was in Barangay Lampaya’s barangay tanod outpost.
Prior to the Army’s arrivals, the tanods of Barangay Lampaya engaged a group of armed men who fired at their outpost. According to Barangay Councilman Benito Cantomayor, the men also lobbed an M203 grenade at the outpost.
Cabalong was initially brought to the Aleosan District Hospital in the adjacent town of Alimodian but later transferred to the West Visayas State University Medical Center in Iloilo City.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Sisenando Magbalot, 61IB commander, the rebels – numbering between 20 to 30 – likely belonged to the NPA-Panay Coronacion Chiva “Waling-Waling” Command.
The 61IB troops were on an offensive operation following Sunday’s NPA raid of the Maasin police station. The rebels fled toward Alimodian and could have crossed to Leon.
It was unclear, however, if the rebels whom the Army encountered in Leon were the same ones who attacked the Maasin police.
The Coronacion Chiva “Waling-Waling” Command issued a statement on Sunday praising NPA-Panay’s Napoleon Tumagtang Command for the successful Maasin operation.
Magbalot said the insurgents that his men encountered withdrew to Alimodian which is located between Maasin and Leon.
Villagers saw the rebels carrying two persons while withdrawing, said Magbalot. He believed his men were able to injure or even kill some of the rebels.
The firefight lasted for some 30 minutes.
None from Magbalot’s men were injured. As of this writing he was still in Barangay Lampaya.
Fearful teachers of Mali-ao Elementary School at the adjacent village of Mali-ao, Leon suspended classes and asked the help of barangay officials to have the parents fetch their children.
The police station of Leon, on the other hand, tightened its security while in Alimodian, Mayor Calay Alonsabe declared a suspension of classes in all schools in his town. He ordered teachers and pupils to go home.
The Army’s 3rd Infantry Division (3ID) sent reinforcements to help the 61IB clear Barangay Lampaya of rebels.
On Sunday, rebels stormed the police station of Maasin and immobilized nine helpless police officers.
The daring, broad daylight incursion was swift. Within 15 minutes beginning around 10:30 a.m., the rebels shanghaied M16 rifles, pistols, handheld radios, laptops, cash, and mobile phones.
They abandoned their getaway vehicles in Alimodian – the Maasin police patrol car in Barangay Cagay and a truck in Barangay Ingwan./PN
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