Guerrillas attack CAFGU outpost

TANDAG, Surigao del Sur — Communist guerrillas attacked a detachment of the Citizens Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) in San Agustin, Surigao del Sur the other day, leaving three rebels dead and a militiaman wounded, the military said.

The New People’s Army (NPA) attackers, led by one Jardo Valdez alias Kumander Jino, engaged CAFGU members headed by Sgt. Leonardo Tercero of the Army’s 62nd Infantry Battalion in a two-hour firefight but retreated before military reinforcements arrived.

There were no deaths on the military side but the San Agustin police said a CAFGU member was wounded in the attack in Barangay Pong-on.

This occurred as 18 NPA supporters, two of them women, surrendered to the military and police and officials of Esperanza, Agusan del Sur, led by Mayor Deo Manpatilan, last week.

Esperanza is one of hotbeds of communist insurgency among the 17 towns of Agusan del Sur. — Ben Serrano