Another NPA camp seized

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Pursuit operations against fleeing New People’s Army rebels by government soldiers again led to armed skirmishes, and the seizure of another NPA training camp in Himamaylan City, while four rebel assassins were arrested at a police checkpoint Thursday night in Kabankalan City, all in Negros Occidental.

Lieutenant Colonel Darryl Bañez, 62nd Infantry Battalion commander, reported last Friday that another NPA training camp – at Barangay Buenavista, Himamaylan City – was seized, which was preceded by another encounter, as the 62nd IB troopers were pursuing the occupants of the rebel camp seized earlier in the same barangay.

An M-16 assault rifle, and three ICOM radios, among other items were recovered at the newly discovered rebel camp, several kilometers from the first encampment seized on December 5.

No injuries on both sides were reported at of last night. But the December 7 encounter at Barangay Carabalan in Himamaylan City, led to slight injuries of two members of the 6nd 2IB.

Also at about 11 p.m. Thursday, policemen arrested four suspected rebels, who tried to escape from a police checkpoint at Barangay 4 in Kabankalan City.

Superintendent Rhea Santos, Kabankalan City Police chief, yesterday said the arrest of the four – Wendel Morales of Sipalay City; Ronnie dela Cruz and Ariel Rivera of Silay City; and Joelito Medes of Kabankalan City – also yielded a .45-caliber pistol with a magazine of six bullets, and a .38-caliber revolver with four live ammunition.

Santos said the four were riding in a single motorcycle with Morales as the driver, and they tried to go back upon seeing the checkpoint.

Bañez said that, based on the testimonies of former rebels, the four are members of the NPA Special Partisan Unit, and he believed that the two NPA camps might be staging areas for rebel offensives in connection with the 49th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines. (FREEMAN)