8 wounded in separate NPA assaults

Eight people, including a soldier, a militiaman and a village chief, were wounded in separate attacks by New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas in Compostela Valley and Samar, apparently as part of the rebels’ offensive to mark the 32nd founding anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on Dec. 26.

Col. Hilario Atendido, spokesman of the military’s Southern Command, said 80 fully armed NPA fighters, led by Eduardo Ganelza alias Commander Lando, head of the Front Guerrilla Unit II of the Southern Mindanao Revolutionary Committee, attacked the detachment of the 60th Infantry Battalion in Compostela Valley at about 1:10 a.m. last Wednesday.

Soldiers manning the outpost put up a fight that lasted for almost two hours. The rebels withdrew, bringing along their wounded comrades, as military reinforcements arrived.

Wounded in the firefight were identified as Pfc. Sonny Tamondon and militiaman Teddy Fuentes.

Government troops seized two M-16 Armalite rifles, two caliber .38 revolvers, three explosive devices, seven empty M-16 magazines and 20 M203 grenade launcher shells after the clash.

In Samar, meanwhile, Lt. Col. Sonny Gadot, commanding officer of the Army’s 34th Infantry Battalion, said Bautista Alijan, head of the upstream village of Tawhiran in San Jorge town, and five companions suffered multiple gunshot wounds when NPA rebels ambushed them before dawn last Sunday.

Gadot said Alijan’s group was crossing a river on board a motorized banca en route to the poblacion of the neighboring town of Gandara when they were waylaid.

In other parts of the country, police and military units are on alert for possible assaults by communist fighters in the run-up to the CPP anniversary.

In Cagayan Valley, Chief Superintendent Rowland Albano, regional police director, ordered his men to tighten security to prevent NPA rebels from staging attacks on vital government facilities.

Albano issued the directive after 20 guerrillas raided a police station in a remote Isabela town last week and carted away 18 Armalite rifles.

In the South, authorities are on the lookout for a team of communist guerrillas formerly based in Metro Manila and Rizal who are reportedly leading massive recruitment and revival of NPA strongholds in South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City. — With Allen Estabillo and Charlie Lagasca