Lt. Col. Preme Monta, spokesman of the Armed Forces’ Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom), said the number of fatalities sustained by the Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan (RHB) was based on the accounts of civilians who saw the fleeing rebels dragging the bodies of their fallen comrades.
The firefight between the RHB and elements of the Army’s 24th Infantry Battalion took place in Barangay Taposo in Candelaria, Zambales and lasted for more than 30 minutes.
Quoting field reports, Monta said about 25 RHB guerrillas, led by one Domingo Tarekan, tagged as a ranking official of the armed communist group, were involved in the clash.
Soldiers were able to retrieve the body of a slain rebel, who still remains unidentified.
The 24th IB found two M-14 rifles, an M-16 rifle, four grenades, 307 bullets for an M-60, a two-way radio, a binocular, 22 backpacks containing the insurgents’ personal belongings and voluminous documents said to be of "high intelligence value" at the scene of the encounter.
The RHB is the armed wing of the Marxist-Leninist Party of the Philippines (MLPP), the Central Luzon-based breakaway faction of the mainstream Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Its bitter rival is the New People’s Army (NPA), the CPP’s armed unit. — With Jaime Laude and Ric Sapnu