BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Four New People’s Army (NPA) rebels were killed while a soldier was wounded in an encounter in Himamaylan City in Negros Occidental on Wednesday.
At least 180 families or 651 people fled their homes to avoid being caught in the crossfire. They stayed in a covered court in Barangay Carabalan.
Lt. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, Visayas Command chief, said the rebels left behind their slain comrades as they fled the scene.
Two AK-47 rifles, two M16 rifles with M203 grenade launchers and a fragmentation grenade were among those reportedly recovered from the fatalities.
Lt. Col. Van Donald Almonte, 94th Infantry Battalion commander, said the clash occurred when soldiers responded to the reported presence of armed men demanding food and other supplies from villagers.
Almonte said the soldiers recovered letters asking for payment of so-called revolutionary tax or permit to operate fees for businesses.
In Sultan Kudarat, suspected NPA bomb maker Rosendo Cardiso Jr. was killed in an encounter with soldiers belonging to the 37th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Sangay in Kalamansig town.
The military said two M14 rifles and an M16 were recovered at the scene.
Cardiso was said to be a henchman of Joseph Longan of the NPA’s Daguma Command-Far South Mindanao Region.
Longan’s group was tagged in the burning of construction equipment in South Cotabato from 2019 to 2022. – Gilbert Bayoran, Michael Punongbayan, John Unson