NPAs strike back, kill 9 soldiers in Ilocos Sur

CAMP ELPIDIO QUIRINO, Bantay, Ilocos Sur — New People’s Army (NPA) rebels opened fire on an Army truck Monday, killing nine soldiers and wounding three others at a World War II battleground in Ilocos Sur.

There were no reports of casualties on the NPA side.

Killed in action were Corporals Alvin Rambac, Ariel Ramos and Jerry Ferrer; Privates 1st Class Jerwin Jarvin and Norman Usbal; and Privates Jeffrey Jacinto, Dominador Galicia, Wensel Comador and Ricardo Ninalga.

Wounded were their platoon leader Lt. Immanuel Latay, S/Sgt. Dominic Callueng and Pfc Josefino Limos.

Lt. Col. Preme Monta, Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) spokesman based in Tarlac City, said the nine dead soldiers and the three wounded all belonged to the Army’s 50th Infantry Battalion in San Juan, Ilocos Sur.

Ilocos Sur police said the soldiers were on their way to clear and secure Besang Pass — where Japanese forces under Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita made their last stand against Filipino guerrillas and US troops on June 14, 1945 — to prepare for today’s 60th anniversary of the Japanese surrender, or the Fall of Besang Pass.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has canceled anniversary celebration of the Fall of Besang Pass because of security threats to participants.

Ilocos Region police director Chief Superintendent Alfredo Devera said troops were combing nearby hospitals for wounded rebels.

The attack occurred Monday near Cervantes town in Ilocos Sur province, he added.

Superintendent Crispin Agno, Ilocos Sur police commander, said the Besang Pass rites were canceled as troops scrambled for helicopter gunships in pursuit of the ambushers.

The attackers are believed to belong to the NPA command in Abra province and eastern Ilocos Sur, he added.

On the other hand, Monta said the rebels’ "ultimate objective" was to disrupt today’s Fall of Besang Pass anniversary celebration.

"The fatalities could have been more if the incident did happen during (today’s) celebration of the Besang Pass Fall because civilians, government officials and foreign dignitaries were supposed to come to the rites," he said.

Monta said Cervantes was not really a hotbed of communist guerrilla activity and that the NPA could not claim victory for the Besang Pass incident.

"Nakatiempo lang sila (They only got a break)," he said. "Based on our deep penetration agents, talagang plinano ng mga rebeldeng i-disrupt ang celebration (Based on our deep penetration agents, the rebels did plan to disrupt the celebration)."

Troops are pursuing the fleeing rebels, Monta said.

The clash in Ilocos Sur comes a day after 16 rebels belonging to the Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan (RHB) — a breakaway wing of the NPA — were slain in an encounter with an Army patrol in Mexico town in Pampanga.

The military estimates NPA rebels had more than 8,000 fighters last year and the NPA claims a presence in nearly 70 of the country’s 79 provinces.

Last June 3, guerrillas belonging to the NPA’s Agustin Begnalen Command overran a military detachment in Barangay Tiempo in Tubo town, in nearby Abra province and fled with 29 high-powered rifles.

The rebels wounded eight government troops and militiamen, and a civilian official was reportedly killed in the crossfire.

Meanwhile, Central Luzon police director Chief Superintendent Alejandro Lapinid said the 15 RHB rebels killed in Mexico Sunday were collecting so-called revolutionary taxes from businessmen.

Their death had "severely affected" the RHB’s main source of logistics and finance, he added.

Lapinid said documents seized by police showed that the RHB had been extorting some P39,000 from fish cage and fishpond operators in Bataan and Zambales.

In Bulacan, the RHB has been getting between P14,000 and P15,000 monthly from a politician in San Miguel town, P30,000 every two months from Robina Farms, P30,000 monthly from marble quarry operators, and P5,000 a month from each big time vegetable dealer, he added. — Teddy Molina, Artemio Dumlao, Ric Sapnu, Pia Lee-Brago, Jaime Laude, AP, AFP