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THREE
soldiers were killed while three others were wounded in
an encounter with communist guerillas who bombed and
burned a cell site of Globe Telecommunications in
Masbate on Sunday.
Lt. Col.
Rhoderick Parayno, spokesman for the Armed Forces
Southern Luzon Command, said the firefight happened at
around 8 a.m. Sunday when troops from the Army’s 9th
Infantry Division caught up with some 40 guerillas they
were pursuing following the bombing of a Globe cell site
in barangay Lahong, Baleno town.
Parayno
said a running gunbattle ensued, and although
outnumbered, the soldiers maintained their position
while waiting for reinforcements. He said the firefight
lasted for about four hours until the reinforcements
arrived and the guerillas withdrew.
“The
enemy took advantage of their superior number to assault
the soldiers’ position but failed to overrun the troops’
position. The fourth attempt succeeded when three
soldiers in a sector were wounded and assaulted by the
NPA [New People’s Army] rebels,” Parayno said.
Parayno
did not disclose the identities of the dead soldiers
pending notification of their families.
Those
wounded were Pfcs. Xzeal de Ocampo, Gerry de la Cruz and
Ian Solano.
Parayno
said the guerillas also suffered an undetermined number
of casualties as evidenced by blood stains on the route
of their withdrawal.
Recovered from the scene were improvised land mines,
firing wire, molotov bombs, documents and personal
belongings of the rebels.
Meanwhile, government authorities captured two alleged
top NPA leaders in Misamis Oriental.
Troops
arrested Mar Lopez, alias Mebel, and Mobit, alleged
secretary of the NPA’s Sector Command 1, Front Committee
4-B of the North-Central Mindanao Regional Committee
during a raid in his safe house around 12:30 noon on May
25 in sitio Nabakahan, barangay Napaliran in Balingasag
town.
Maj.
Randolfp Cabangbang, spokesman for the Armed Forces
Eastern Mindanao Command, told reporters that Lopez’s
wife, Lolita Gambota, also known as Mia, who works as a
finance officer for the Front Committee 4-B, was also
arrested.
“They
did not resist arrest after realizing that they were
surrounded by the troops,” Cabangbang said. No firearms
were recovered, however.
The two
are the subject of warrants of arrest for robbery with
homicide and rebellion issued by Judge Florencia
Sealana-Abbo of Branch 17 of the Regional Trial Court in
Cagayan de Oro City in 2003. --With
R. M. de Guzman Maitem |
