SAF team leader slain in NPA clash

LEGAZPI CITY – The leader of three Special Action Force (SAF) teams was killed in a fierce firefight with New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Mandaon, Masbate yesterday morning, police said.

Senior Superintendent Robert Layon, Masbate police director, said Inspector Harold Geces was leading 29 men of the SAF forward operational base company when they encountered about 100 guerrillas in Barangay Bogtong.

Layon cited reports from villagers that five rebels were also killed and 20 others were wounded in the six-hour firefight that started at about 5 a.m.

SAF reinforcements and Mandaon policemen retrieved Geces’ body as the insurgents fled toward the adjacent barangay.

Last Tuesday morning, about 40 rebels ransacked the house of a barangay chairman in Cataingan, Masbate, carting away an M-14 rifle, a short firearm and valuables. – Celso Amo