SECURITY forces on Wednesday encountered a group of heavily-armed New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas in Jiabong, Samar killing 2 of the rebels who turned out to be wanted NPA couple, Police Regional Office 8 (PRO8) director Brigadier General Bernard M. Banac reported yesterday.

The Eastern Visayas police director said that the 2 slain suspects identified as Amado Adelantar alias “Butil/Commander Butil” and his party wife Maria Norie Adelantar alias “Cedang”.

The male Adelantar was described as a commanding officer of a CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines)/NPA Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee while his wife was identified as a finance officer of the same rebel group, the official said in a report to Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Dionardo B. Carlos.

According to Brig. Gen. Banac, members of the 12th Special Action Battalion of the PNP Special Action Force (SAF), the Jiabong Municipal Police Station, the Samar Police Provincial Office’s Provincial Intelligence Unit, and the Army’s 87th Infantry Battalion (IB) clashed with the suspects as the troops were checking the reported presence of armed men in Bgy. Alejandrea.

He said that the government forces were fired upon by the armed suspects prompting them to retaliate, hitting the two suspects whose identities were validated by some former NPA rebels who have surrendered to authorities in the province.

The two were given first aid by the troops and taken to the Samar Provincial Hospital where an attending physician declared them dead upon arrival.

Brig. Gen. Banac said that a SOCO (Scene of the Crime Operatives) team and operatives from the Samar Explosives and Canine Unit recovered one KG9 sub-machine gun without a serial number being carried by “Ka Butil” while his party wife yielded a caliber .9mm semi-automatic pistol.

2 loaded magazines, 1 MK2 hand grenade, an improvised hand grenade, and suspected NPA documents were also recovered at the scene of the gunfight.

Banac said that a record check showed that “Ka Butil” is facing a number of criminal charges including robbery with homicide, robbery with multiple homicides, robbery-homicide, and 2 counts of murder.

“The male suspect is the subject of 7 warrants of arrest issued by different courts in the region,” said the PRO8 director.

As of press time, the official said that follow-up operations are still underway to get the rest of the gunmen.

Brig. Gen. Banac commended the prompt response of the Samar Police and the Army’s 87th IB which is under the 8th Infantry Division headed by Maj. Gen. Edgardo de Leon in checking the reported presence of the armed rebels in the area.

“Our efforts to end local communist and armed conflict continue. This successful accomplishment of our men in the ground with our AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] counterparts is a noteworthy achievement pinning down leaders of the CPP-NPAs operating in the Samar areas apart from recovering assorted firearms and documents from said rebels,” he said.