BACOLOD CITY – Six policemen were killed and four others – three policemen and a municipal councilor – were injured in two attacks staged today by suspected New People’s Army rebels in Barangay Magsaysay, Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental.
Senior Inspector Armilyn Vargas, spokesperson of the Philippine National Police Regional Office on Negros Island ( PRO 18), said the six policemen, including Superintendent Arnel Arpon, Guihulngan City police chief, died in the ambush perpetrated by the NPA.
Arpon’s team was responding to an earlier ambush staged against Guihulgan Councilor Edison Dela Rita when they were also ambushed by the same group of armed men, Vargas said.
Vargas said an employee of the Guihulngan municipal government, identified as Edward Jimenez, reported to the town police about the ambush of Delarita in Barangay Magsaysay of the town.
Arpon was leading a team of 15 policemen when they were waylaid before reaching the site where Delarita, who was reported to have been wounded in the incident, was ambushed.
Three other policemen were also injured in the second attack.
Aside from Arpon, the fatalities were identified as SPO2 Mecasio Tabilon, SPO1 Jesael Ancheta, PO2 Alvin Paul Bulandres, PO2 Alfredo Dunque and SPO2 Chavic Agosto.
Wounded were SPO4 Jerome Delara, PO2 Jorie Maribao and PO3 Jordan Balderas.
Delarita, according to Losañes, was reported earlier as the target for liquidation by the NPA, according to Colonel Eliezer Losanes , commander of the Philippine Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade based in Negros Oriental.
The Guihulngan City Police Station in Negros Oriental, as well as city police stations of Himamaylan and Kabankalan in Negros Occidental, were also being targeted for attacks by the NPA, based on documents recovered from recent encounter in Negros Oriental.
Initial reports received by the military disclosed that Delarita and his companions, on board two motorcycles, were on their way from Barangay Balogo to the Guihulngan City proper, when they were ambushed by suspected NPA rebels.
Losañes believed that the main objective of the NPA was to get the policemen who were would be responding to the ambush of Delarita.
Major General Jon Aying, 3rd Infantry Division commander, condemned the ambush of civilians and policemen in Guihulngan City.
He said the 303rd IB is now pursuing the fleeing rebels.
An encounter between a group of NPA rebels and troopers of the 62nd Infantry Battalion also took place in Barangay Marcelo, Calatrava, Negros Occidental last Thursday evening. The fleeing rebels left behind a .45 caliber pistol and assorted personal belongings.