BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Army soldiers yesterday figured in another encounter with suspected New People’s Army rebels who were fleeing from an earlier gun battle, in Sitio Cantayson, Brgy. Mani-ak, Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental.
The five fleeing rebels left behind a .357 Magnum revolver and a back pack containing personal belongings, according to a report of the 62nd Infantry Battalion.
No casualties were reported on the government side, while one of the five fleeing rebels was reported to have died.
The five were among the group of rebels who figured in an encounter with 62IB soldiers in Sitio Cambairan, Brgy. Trinidad, Guihulngan City, on August 16, that resulted in injuries to two of their comrades, a military report further said.
Brig. Gen. Inocencio Pasaporte, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, disclosed that the running gun battle on Aug. 16 in Sitio Cambairan lasted 10 minutes, after which the rebels fled in various directions, while soldiers recovered assorted personal belongings at the encounter site.
Heavy traces of blood stains were discovered along escape route of rebels, believed to be members of the Central Negros 1 guerilla unit, bolstering reports of civilians that two were rebels injured in the gun battle.
On Aug. 15, four suspected NPA rebels were also reported to have been injured following an encounter between 12th Infantry Battalion soldiers and members of the Central Front of Komiteng Rehiyonal Panay at the boundary of Calinog and Lambunao towns in Iloilo.
Soldiers recovered an AK-47 assault rifle with a magazine filled with ammunition, an M203 grenade launcher, 250 live ammunition for M-16 rifle and five back packs containing personal belongings, assorted medicines and subversive documents.
Traces of bloodstains were also seen along the rebels’ withdrawal routes. No casualties were reported on the government side in both encounters.
On the other hand, members of the 94th Infantry Battalion who figured in two successive encounters on Aug. 10 and 11 in Sitio Bulasot, Brgy. Buenavista, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, have been conferred with medals by Maj. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, 3rd ID commander, in Ayungon, Negros Oriental.
The encounter claimed the life of a suspected rebel identified as Anthony Tebio Ariola, 21, of Sitio Bugo in Brgy. Buenavista, Himamaylan City, and the recovery of an M-16 assault rifle and two pistols, among other war materials.*
