THE leader of a New People’s Army (NPA) unit operating in the provinces of Samar and Eastern Samar was killed in a clash Saturday in Borongan City in Eastern Samar.
The slain communist rebel leader was identified as Martin Colima alias Moki, secretary of the Sub-Regional Committee (SRC) Sesame of the Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee.
Troops from the Army’s 78th Infantry Battalion were conducting combat operation in Barangay San Gabriel in Borongan City when they clashed with 10 to 15 rebels at around 11:30 a.m.
The soldiers launched the operation after receiving complaints from residents about NPA extortion and other “terroristic activities” in the barangay, said Capt. Jefferson Mariano, spokesman of the 8th Infantry Division.
The Army’s 802nd Brigade said it received information that Colima’s group was planning to liquidate government militiamen and former NPA rebels.
Mariano said the rebels withdrew after a firefight that lasted about 15 to 20 minutes.
Soldiers retrieved Colima’s cadaver along with a cal. 45 pistol, and seven backpacks.
The military said Colima’s group was responsible for the death of six soldiers and wounding of 20 others during an encounter in November 2019 in Barangay Pinanag-an in Borongan City.
It said Colima masterminded a December 2019 ambush in Barangay Libuton, also in Borongan City, that left a policeman and three civilians dead and 12 civilians, including a one-year-old baby, injured.
Colima had standing cases in court, including murder, attempted murder, frustrated murder and robbery, the military also said.
802nd Brigade commander Brig. Gen. Noel Vestuir said that with Colima’s death, “it is very imminent that fighters under SRC Sesame will lose direction, be demoralized, and become incapable of protracted fighting for a lost cause and incorrect communist ideology.”
Vestuir reiterated his call to NPA rebels to surrender and “live a life of peace, love, and happiness, away from danger, fatigue and hunger.”
“The government with the help of civil society organizations is always ready to accept you, and provide necessary assistance to capacitate you as you start a new life in the mainstream Filipino society.” said Vestuir.
