BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Another ranking rebel leader in Negros Island and her companion died during an encounter on December 14 with soldiers of the 94th Infantry Battalion in Sitio Belo, Brgy. Buenavista, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental.
Brig.Gen. Inocencio Pasaporte, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, identified last night the slain NPA leader as Florida Ceballos, secretary of the Central Negros (Front) 2 of the Komiteng Rehiyonal Negros/Cebu/Bohol/Siquijor (KR-NCBS), and Wilfredo Fuentes, alias Dino, who served as courier of the NPA unit.
Pasaporte said that Ceballos was the third KR-NCBS secretary neutralized by the Philippine Army, including Kerima Lorena Tariman, secretary of the Northern Negros Front, who died in an encounter with 79th Infantry Battalion in August this year, in Silay City, and Nilda Natan Bertulano, South West Front Committee secretary.
Bertulano, however, was captured, after she was injured during an encounter with government troopers in Ilog town, a month after.
Pasaporte disclosed that 94IB troopers responded to reports of civilians, on the presence of about 10 NPA rebels in their community, that resulted to a gun battle.
He added that the fleeing rebels left behind their two slain comrades at the encounter site.
Two .45 caliber pistols, assorted explosives, and subversive documents were among the war materials recovered by 94IB troopers at the encounter site.
Pasaporte also reported that those encountered by 94IB troopers believed to have been also among those who had killed a civilian on December 11 in Sitio Cantupa of the barangay.*
