A NEW People’s Army (NPA) leader was killed in a firefight with government troops in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental last Monday, the military reported yesterday.
Troops from the Army’s 62nd Infantry Battalion launched a combat operation in Sitio Banderahan, Barangay Trinidad after receiving reports from residents about the presence of NPA rebels in their community.
The Army’s 3rd Infantry Division (ID) said soldiers later clashed with about five rebels who are members of the NPA’s Central Negros Front.
The insurgents fled after a five-minute firefight, leaving behind the body of Victor Baldonado, alias Rudy, commanding officer of the Section Guerrilla Unit of Central Negros Front.
Soldiers also found at the encounter site an M16 rifle and three magazines.
The military said Baldonado and his group were behind numerous atrocities in the Negros provinces, including the killing of government militiaman Joselito Rabon in Moises Padilla town in Negros Occidenta last September 24 and the harassment of a PNP detachment in Guihulngan City last September 10.
Maj. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, 3rd ID commander, reiterated the military’s call for rebels to surrender and live a peaceful life.
“They cannot escape from the long arm of the law. If they refuse to surrender, they will face these consequences — get arrested and be imprisoned, or die,” said Arevalo.
Late last month, government troops also clashed with members of the NPA in Barangay Buenavista, also in Guihulngan City, leading to the death of two NPA rebels.
In Samar, a communist rebel surrendered to Army soldiers, the Army’s 8th Infantry Division said.
Anthony Encinas, alias Aljur, of the NPA’s Bugsok Platoon, Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee, surrendered to officials of the 46th Infantry Battalion last November 19.
