No soldiers slain in Abra clashes

The Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) dismissed as mere propaganda the claim by the Agustin Begnalen Command of the New People’s Army (NPA) – which marked its 40th founding anniversary last Saturday – that they killed seven soldiers in two recent encounters in Tubo, Abra.

On the contrary, Lt. Gen. Rodrigo Maclang, Nolcom commander, said his men scored a big hit against the NPA command operating in Abra, Mt. Province and Ilocos Sur, killing four of its guerrillas. He said pursuing troops found one body.

Maclang said an Army assault force, in fact, overran an NPA satellite camp and seized four high-powered firearms from the slain insurgents.

Nolcom troops have lately focused their anti-insurgency operations in the tri-boundary of Abra, Mt. Province and Ilocos Sur to flush out the rebels operating there.

“Ibig sabihin may pitong pamilya ng mga sundalong nasawi ang hindi namin ininpormahan sa nangyari (That means there are seven families of slain soldiers whom we have not informed about what happened). That’s not true,” Maclang said, referring the claim, in a statement, of Diego Wadagan, spokesman of the Agustin Begnalen Command.

Maclang said elements of the Army’s 50th Infantry Battalion are still going after the guerrillas of the NPA command in a bid to dismantle their main headquarters.

In his statement, Wadagan said their command “suffered no casualties” in the encounters in Tubo town last March 21 and 25 and denied that a guerrilla had fallen into Army hands.

“No NPA camps have been overrun and no firearms have been recovered by the 50th IB during the clashes),” he claimed.

Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Melchor Dilodilo, commanding general of the Army’s 5th Infantry Division based in Isabela, said their target of dismantling a number of NPA guerrilla fronts in Cagayan Valley and other parts of Northern Luzon is still achievable considering the rebels’ heavy losses in the past months.

“They (NPA) are now having difficulty (recruiting) men from their communities, and like fish out of the water, the insurgency in the area will ultimately die without mass support,” Dilodilo said. – With Artemio Dumlao, James Mananghaya and Charlie Lagasca