16 communist rebels killed in Luzon clashes with PNP

MEXICO, Pampanga — Government troops killed 16 guerrillas of the Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan (RHB), a breakaway wing of the New People’s Army (NPA) in two separate clashes in Pampanga and Bataan on Sunday.

The 16th rebel was killed in Dinalupihan town in Bataan where soldiers also wounded one rebel and captured three others.

Three of the rebels killed in Mexico town in Pampanga were identified as Luciano Tubig, 40, of San Agustin, San Luis, Pampanga; Melvin Bondoc alias Ka Aris, 20, of Barangay Sto. Rosario, Mexico; and Marcial Dungca, alias Ka Mar, 33, of San Pedro in San Simon town.

Killed in Dinalupihan was Flores Ricardo Y Aguit, 50, of Barangay Roosevelt, while wounded was Loenardo Movilla, alias Mely, of barangay Colo.

Captured were Alvin Yandan, alias Ka Binbing; Reynaldo Bitonio, 32, and Rolando Marzan, 45, all of Dinalupihan.

They were brought to the Bataan police office for filing of appropriate criminal charges.

Central Luzon police director Chief Superintendent Alejandro Lapinid said Yandan has standing arrest warrants for the murder of Aetas Luder Belayo and Joey Abraham, officials in Barangay Magsaysay in Dinalupihan last Feb. 19.

Yandan was also involved in a robbery case when his group disarmed two security guards of a caliber .38 revolver and a shotgun in a ricefield in Barangay Benito in Dinalupihan earlier this year, he added.

Lapinid said Pampanga policemen and troops from the Army’s 69th Infantry Battalion clashed with the 15 RHB rebels in Barangay San Nicolas in Mexico for three hours on Sunday.

The fighting lasted from about 3:50 p.m. Sunday until 6 p.m. yesterday, he added.

Lapinid said police and 24th Army Infantry Battalion troops encountered five RHB guerrillas on a tricycle along the Gapan-Olongapo Road in Barangay Saguing in Dinalupihan.

Troops seized two short firearms and three hand grenades from the rebels, he added.

Lt. Col. Bong Visaya, 69th IB commander, said residents of Barangay San Nicolas in Mexico had tipped off police via a text message that a group of heavily armed men were sighted near a basketball court in the barangay.

Troops were immediately sent and the rebels fired at the soldiers as they were cordoning off the area, he added.

Lapinid said two more rebels were killed in fighting in Mexico town but their bodies were dragged off by their comrades during the retreat.

Seized from the rebels in Mexico were six M-16 rifles, two M-14, one UZI Sub-Machine pistol, a Thompson gun, an automatic carbine rifle, a .45-caliber pistol, one grenade launcher and voluminous subversive documents.

In the Dinalupihan clash, troops recovered a 9-mm. Berretta pistol loaded with five bullets, one .38-caliber pistol, four caliber .38revolvers, three hand grenades, four cell phones, subversive documents and personal belongings. — Ding Cervantes, Ric Sapnu