• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Army soldiers seized firearms and explosives after two successive encounters with remnants of the New People’s Army on July 31 and August 1, in Sipalay City, Negros Occidental.
Lt. Col. J Jay Javines, 3rd Infantry Division Civil Military Operations chief, disclosed on Friday that two caliber .45 pistols with ammunition, and two fragmentation grenades were recovered from the two encounter sites in Sitios Bactolon and Cambugui-ot in Barangay Camindangan, Sipalay City.
The two slain rebels, whose cadavers also recovered at the gun battle sites, were identified by Javines as a certain Regie Fundador, 23, of Brgy. Cabia-an, Candoni, and an alias Xian.
The seven-man team of rebels encountered by 15th Infantry Battalion is believed to be remnants of the dismantled South West Front of the Komiteng Rehiyonal Negros/Cebu/Bohol/Siqujior.
The cadavers of two slain rebels are yet to be claimed by the respective families, as of press time.
The two encounters took place, following a gun battle on July 29 in Brgy. Basak, Cauayan, where a suspected rebel identified as Ramon Enseniales, also died in a fire fight with 15IB soldiers.
A 12-gauge shotgun with ammunition and two fragmentation grenades were recovered by Army soldiers in that encounter.*
