Binalbagan, Negros Occidental | Source: Google Map
DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental – A suspected member of the New People’s Army (NPA) was killed while another member was wounded and captured during an encounter between an alleged group of rebels and government troops in Sitio Tambo, Barangay Santol, Binalbagan, Negros Occidental at 4 p.m. on Friday, November 22, 2019.
The troops coming from the 62nd Infantry Battalion were in hot pursuit operations against suspected rebels who allegedly threatened the family of a village chief, Barangay Captain Charlie Gamboa of Tinongan in Isabela town, when they chanced upon the more or less 15 rebels, a military report said.
The government troops engaged the suspected NPA in a gunfight that lasted for an hour and a half before the alleged rebels retreated to different directions, leaving their dead comrade and another rebel who was wounded during the encounter.
The slain man and the wounded remained unidentified as of this posting.
There was no casualty on the government side.
Brigadier General Benedict Arevalo, 303rd Brigade commander, said they would continue to hunt the NPAs who, he said, were sowing fear and terror among residents in the area.
He said the incident “should serve as a warning to the NPAs. They cannot get away from the law forever.”
“The law will catch up with them eventually and justice will be served just like to their companion who were killed and wounded in the fighting today,” he added. /elb