Army clashes with NPAs in Mindoro

CALAPAN CITY, Philippines – A suspected “platoon leader” of the New People’s Army was killed while a still unidentified civilian got wounded when elements of the Philippine Army engaged a band of communist insurgents in fierce running gun battle over the weekend in Occidental Mindoro.

In a report furnished to media on May 24 by 1st Lt. Celeste Frank Sayson, information officer of the Army’s 2nd Division, it stated that soldiers belonging to PA’s 80th Infantry Battalion, under Lt. Col. Alden Juan Masagka, encountered 10 armed NPA members on Saturday at about 5:30 a.m. at Sitio Tugas, Barangay Tangkalan, Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro.

After almost one hour of fierce running gunbattle, the said encounter resulted to one NPA member killed, identified only through his alias as “Ka Asero” and believed to be the platoon leader of “Platoon 2” of the rebel group’s “Islacom Mindoro” or the Mindoro Island Committee.

Sayson told newsmen that government troopers conducted the said operation after they received information that the said communist guerillas were doing their mass work to entice recruits from the townsfolk and fill their supposedly depleted ranks.

There is no reported casualty or wounded from the government side. However, a still unidentified civilian was caught in the crossfire and suffered some gunshot wounds. Soldiers rushed the said civilian to Mamburao Municipal Hospital.

The military also seized from the rebels after the firefight an M16 rifle, a homemade shotgun, two laptops, six cellphones and an ICOM radio.

A hot pursuit operation is still underway to track the fleeing rebels.