NPA guerilla killed in Sultan Kudarat encounter

COTABATO CITY — Personnel of the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion shot dead a member of the New People’s Army in a clash in Barangay Baluan in Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat on Saturday, March 1. 

Officials of the Palimbang Municipal Police Station and Army Brig. Gen. Michael Santos, commander of the 603rd Infantry Brigade, confirmed on Sunday, March 2, the incident that resulted in the death of an NPA guerilla.

The slain NPA member was abandoned by his companions, who fled when they realized soldiers were about to encircle their position in Barangay Baluan.

The firefight broke out when a group of NPAs fired at soldiers approaching the area, after being spotted by barangay leaders who had requested officials from the 57th IB to drive them away.

The soldiers were dispatched to Barangay Baluan after community leaders and villagers reported the presence on Saturday of NPAs in the area, collecting from them money and rice at gunpoint.

Santos and local executives, including members of the multi-sector Palimbang Municipal Peace and Order Council, told reporters that the soldiers involved in the encounter found an M14 rifle next to the deceased guerrilla and an M16 rifle about three meters away on the ground.

This incident follows the surrender of over 50 NPAs from Sultan Kudarat's neighboring towns of Lebak, Kalamansig, and Palimbang to the 603rd Infantry Brigade in the past six months. The surrenders occurred with the joint efforts of local executives and officials from Army units in these municipalities.