5 NPAs killed in South Cotabato while resisting arrest — Army

KORONADAL CITY, Philippines — Police and military personnel killed five members of the New People's Army, among them a regional rebel leader, in an encounter Wednesday in Lake Sebu, South Cotabato.  

Major Gen. Juvymax Uy of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division said NPA members Romeo and Merly Libron, Rogelio Magsaya, and two others initially identified only as Macoy and Megan, died from bullet wounds in different parts of their bodies.

Municipal officials and community leaders in Lake Sebu, a hinterland town in South Cotabato, said Libron was chief of the NPA's self-styled regional ordnance unit for Southern Mindanao region.

Libron’s group was tagged in recent bombings in central Mindanao of buses, construction equipment and business establishments whose owners refused to shell out “protection money”.

Personnel of the Lake Sebu municipal police and the Army's 5th Special Forces Battalion were to serve warrants from local courts for the arrest of Libron and his companions. The arresting team said the operation went awry when the rebels resisted and opened fire, provoking a gunfight.

Members of the 5th SF Battalion, a unit of the 601st Infantry Brigade under 6th ID, and police officers said they were forced to return fire, killing the five NPAs.

Libron is wanted for heinous offenses, including multiple murder, extortion and arson.

In a report to 6th ID, Brig. Gen. Roy Galido, commander of 601st Brigade, said soldiers recovered a carbine rifle, an M16 rifle, a .45-cal pistol, a 9-mm Glock 19 pistol, two improvised explosive devices and components for IEDs.

Uy said he has directed the 5th SF Battalion to guard against possible retaliation by the NPA.