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CPP claims NDF consultant killed not in firefight

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BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN

Recovered war materials from an encounter in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental.*PA photo

Two more combatants of the New People’s Army were reported yesterday by the Philippine Army to have died in another encounter with Army soldiers in Sitio Makilo, Brgy. Camansi, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental.

The Communist Party of the Philippines immediately issued a statement that Ericson Acosta, a consultant of the National Democratic Front, was captured and killed in Kabankalan City, but not in encounter, as claimed by the Philippine Army.

Brig. Gen. Inocencio Pasaporte, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, however, disclosed that they are still in the process of identifying the two slain rebels, despite the identification of Acosta as one of the casualties.

Based on information they got, Pasaporte said Acosta was the husband of Kerima Lorema Tariman, secretary of the dismantled Northern Negros Front, who was also killed in an encounter with the 79th Infantry Battalion in August last year in Silay City.

He, however, did not confirm that Acosta was among the two rebel fatalities in Kabankalan encounter.

Pasaporte said that husband and wife tandem, Acosta and Tariman, were dispatched by the CPP central committee in Negros Island to help recover territories lost by the communist terrorist organization and consolidate remaining forces.

In a statement issued by the 303rd Infantry Brigade, it said that a joint combat operation of the 94th and 47th Infantry Battalion led to two encounters which started at about 2:10 a.m. yesterday, as government troopers responded to reports of the presence of armed rebels in the area.

The first encounter lasted about five minutes, and the rebels scampered in various directions.

Pursuit operations led to another encounter about 100 meters away from the initial encounter site, resulting in the killing of two suspected NPA rebels, Pasaporte said.

Aside from the cadavers of two slain rebels that were left behind by their fleeing comrades, Army soldiers also recovered a KG-9 automatic pistol with a magazine containing ammunition, two caliber .45 pistols, two fragmentation grenades, a CPP NPA flag and subversive documents.

Two days earlier, two NPA rebels also died in an encounter with 62nd Infantry Battalion troopers in Brgy. Quintin Remo, Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental.

In a statement issued by the CPP, it said that Ka Ericson was here in Negros, particularly in Kabankalan City, to consult on the situation of farm workers in southern Negros and share developments regarding the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reform.

It added that Ka Erickson was among the NDF consultants working on CASER.*

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