Security troops, NPA rebs clash in Negros Oriental
HEAVY fighting erupted between security troops and New People’s Army guerrillas in Negros Oriental early evening Friday and Saturday morning leaving a still undetermined number of casualties on the side of the rebels and the recovery of a cache of high-powered NPA weapons, a Police Regional Office 7 report said yesterday.
The clash saw officers from the PRO7 Regional Mobile Force Battalion, the Philippine National Police Special Action Force’s 61st Special Action Company and the Army’s 11th Infantry Battalion going after heavily-armed NPA rebels in the province, a report to PNP chief, General Rodolfo S. Azurin Jr. said.
The 1st gunfight took place 7 p.m. Friday in Tubod Bagtik in Barangay Enrique Villanueva in Sibulan municipality and involved members of the RMFB 7 and the PNP-SAF who were in the area checking an information from local police intelligence agents about the presence of suspected rebels.
No casualty was reported on the side of the policemen during the encounter.
Around 5:50 a.m. Saturday, another group of RMFB 7, PNP-SAF and Army troopers who were sent to launch blocking operations in the area encountered around 10 NPA guerrillas in Sitio Bukal-Bukal in Bgy. Talalak in Sta. Catalina which is about three kilometers away from Bgy. Sibulan.
No one was reported hurt on the side of the government during the clash while police are checking information that the rebels suffered a number of casualties during the two separate gunbattles.
Recovered right after the 2nd clash were a KG9 sub-machine gun, M-79 grenade launcher and live M-203 ammunition. Policemen who scoured a suspected NPA encampment in Sitio Bukal-Bikal also found a Glock 9mm semi-automatic pistol with a magazine containing 13 live ammunition in the area, said Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office director, Colonel Reynaldo L. Lizardo.
PRO7 director, Brigadier Gen. Jerry F. Bearis and PNP-SAF director, Major Gen. Edgar Alan O. Okubo ordered their men to continue tracking down the rest of the guerrillas with the support of the local military.
Local policemen have also started checking all hospitals and clinics in the area for the presence of persons being treated for gunshot wounds. All police stations and the 1st and 2nd Provincial Mobile Force Companies in Negros Oriental were also placed on full alert in the aftermath of the twin firefights.
