7 NPAs killed in Bulacan clash

MALOLOS CITY , Philippines  – A ranking communist rebel and six other guerillas were killed in an encounter with government troopers in the mountain town of Doña Remedios Trinidad in northeastern Bulacan early yesterday morning.

The bodies of the seven dead rebels were recovered by the troops, who sustained no casualties during the hour-long firefight. One of the dead was a girl who appeared to be under 18 years old.

Reports reaching the provincial police office at Camp General Alejo Santos here said that elements of the 56th Infantry Battalion led by 1Lt. Ian Lee Galera encountered an undetermined number of rebels at Sitio Talamsi 1, Barangay Kalawakan, around 3:10 a.m. yesterday.

Galera’s team was conducting security patrol on the mountainous part of Barangay Kalawakan when they encountered the communist guerillas led by a certain “Ka Mac-mac,” the commander-officer of the Sangay ng Partido sa Platun of the Communist Party of the Philippines -New Peoples’ Army (CPP-NPA) in Bulacan.

Fierce exchange of gunfire ensued that left Ka Mac-Mac and six other comrades dead.

Galera’s team recovered four M-16 rifles, two M-14 rifles, and one M-203 grenade launcher from the rebels along with subversive documents.

Senior Superintendent Edgardo Tinio, the acting provincial police director of Bulacan immediately dispatched teams of police officers to the fight scene as Army troopers continued with their clearing operations.

The slain rebels were not yet identified as of yesterday. Tinio said clearing operations are still in progress in the area. – Dino Balabo, Ric Sapnu, Jaime Laude, Ding Cervantes