BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The numbers of combatants of the two New People’s Army guerilla fronts in central Negros have gone down by 50 percent, revealed yesterday by Brig. Gen. Inocencio Pasaporte, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander.
Pasaporte, who supervises the operations of three Army battalions in central and northern Negros, attributed the reduction of NPA combatants to their Focused Military Operations and implementation of non-traditional military activities, in tandem with various stakeholders, resulting in the surrender of their members, while others became inactive, aside from those captured and killed in gunbattles.
The surrender of 19 combatants of Central Negros 2 guerilla front last month to the 94th Infantry Battalion, crippled its Sandatahang Yunit Pampropaganda platoon, he added.
Last year, 10 rebels died in an encounter in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental, that led to the recovery of 12 high powered firearms, Pasaporte recalled.
Within a span of one month, the 62nd Infantry Battalion figured in three encounters with Central Negros 1 and 2 guerilla units, claiming the lives of seven rebels, including those killed on July 26 in Brgy. Budlasan, Canlaon City, Negros Oriental, according to its spokesperson, Lt. Joy De Guzman.
Upon verification, the Philippine Army identified the three slain rebels as Cristina Jacolbe, alias Chave, 42, finance and logistic officer of Komiteng Rehiyonal Negros Central Negros 1 guerilla front, her 18-year-old daughter, Everly Kee, alias Kaye, and Rodan Montero, not Ernie Jacolbe, as was erroneously reported earlier.
In a statement, Negros NPA spokesman Ka Juanito Magbanua said that Montero is also relative of Jacolbe. According to the military, Ernie Jacolbe, the husband of Chave, served as the vice commanding officer of Section Guerilla Unit of Central Negros 1.
Magbanua claimed that the victims were resting in a nipa hut when they were allegedly massacred.
Pasaporte maintained that it was legitimate encounter, contrary to allegations of Magbanua, stressing that the location of about 10 NPA rebels was reported by civilians victimized by the terror campaign and extortion activities of the rebel group.
Magbanua claimed that Ka Chave, a former barangay health worker of Budlasan in Canlaon City, joined the rebel movement after being “red tagged” by state security forces.
Troopers of the 62nd Infantry Battalion who figured in the encounter recovered two .45 caliber pistols, a K9 automatic pistol, a .38 caliber revolver, a homemade 12-gauge shotgun, a rifle grenade and assorted personal belongings.
Pasaporte said they consider the two NPA guerilla fronts in central Negros as “weakened”, as many of their members died in recent gunbattles, while others surrendered due to pressure exerted by government forces.
He, however, said that rebels from other guerilla fronts have shifted some of their forces in central Negros, due to lack of political cadres, as part of the rebel strategy to recover lost territories.
There is also an ongoing attempt by the local terrorist group to rebuild the dismantled Northern Negros Front, Pasaporte said.*
