Army launches major operation vs NPA

STA. IGNACIA, Tarlac — Hundreds of troops mounted a large operation yesterday against the New People’s Army in Tarlac, a day after a major clash left 18 rebels dead.

Col. Preme Monta, Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command spokesman, said an Army soldier and 10 NPA rebels were killed and four soldiers wounded in a 10-hour gun battle in Barangay Sta. Ines West in Sta. Ignacia on Tuesday.

"Our information was that the NPAs were planning to attack the police station either in Sta. Ignacia or San Jose City, so that the offensive that occurred prevented that plan," he said.

Killed was Corporal Jerry Galas.

The wounded were Lt. Ali Sumanquil, Privates First Class Jesus Oczona and Armand Cavasito and Private Aristotle Lomibao.

They were flown to the V. Luna Hospital in Quezon City.

Two days ago, NPA rebels torched two bulldozers belonging to the Far Eastern Mining Co. based in Barangay Camachile, Dona Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan.

Security guards on duty were relieved of their service firearms and personal cell phones.

The NPA attack was prompted by the failure of "management" to pay "revolutionary taxes," according to Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino, Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command chief.

An infantry battalion and three Army reconnaissance companies — a force of nearly 1,000 soldiers — combed rice fields and poultry farms in this town, backed by armored vehicles and Air Force helicopters, their commander said.

Col. Ricardo Garcia, 702nd Army Brigade commander, said the soldiers were trying to track down two NPA platoons of up to 40 guerrillas.

The two NPA platoons had tried to come to the rescue of a third rebel band that clashed with the military on the hilly outskirts of this farming town on Tuesday, he added.

Garcia said at least 18 rebels, "possibly more," were killed when troops attacked the NPA’s Oscar Estrada Command based here.

Three soldiers, including a junior officer, sustained minor shrapnel injuries, he added.

Garcia said the assault had "walloped" the guerrilla unit that operates in the western half of Tarlac province, where the NPA first launched its rebellion in March 1969.

"We will try to recover more bodies today," he said. "Many of them are mangled and are beyond recognition."

Garcia said his troops were fanning west and north to pursue two other NPA platoons that he believed had come from the nearby provinces of Zambales and Pangasinan.

One military unit had surrounded a poultry farm where the soldiers suspected the rebels of taking civilian hostages, he added.

Garcia said the Pangasinan-based NPAs had attacked a mobile telephone signal tower of Globe Telecom outside Sta. Ignacia Tuesday in an attempt to relieve pressure on their encircled comrades.

The rebels had strafed the tower’s control cabin and pitched petrol bombs, but the security guards had doused the flames with water, and the tower had not been disabled, he added.

Garcia said the NPA "definitely has sympathizers and supporters" in the barangay, but that other residents had tipped off the military after they complained of rebel extortion.

"They have been using (the Sta. Ines hamlet) as a base for a long time, but it’s only now that we caught up (with) them," he added. — Ding Cervantes, Leo Espinosa, AFP