BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Five New People’s Army (NPA) rebels were killed in a gun battle with troops of the Philippine Army’s 62nd Infantry Battalion (62IB) in Barangay Quentin Remo, Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental on Saturday morning, May 20.
The fatalities were yet to be identified.
According to 62IB commander Lieutenant Colonel William Pesase, they encountered around 15 rebels belonging to the NPA’s Central Negros Front 1 planning to conduct atrocities in Moises Padilla and La Castellana towns.
Pesase said they were informed by concerned residents of the NPA’s presence which prompted them to conduct patrols in Barangay Quentin Remo.
At around 5 a.m. the government troops encountered the rebels. A shootout lasted for 10 minutes.
The rebels split up and retreated. Forty minutes later the pursuing government forces encountered six of them again and a second gun battle erupted in the village’s Sitio Oway-oway.
A third gun battle took place in the same area a few minutes after the second one until the rebels fled, leaving behind their dead comrades, several firearms and equipment.
Government forces recovered from the encounter site an M16 rifle, two .38 revolvers, a KG9 machine pistol, an Uzi submachine gun, two homemade 12-gauge shotguns, four rifle grenades, as well as assorted ammunition.
Also recovered were two radios, a mobile phone, 15 backpacks, a bandolier, an NPA flag, assorted food and medical supplies, and subversive documents./PN
