CALAPAN CITY, Philippines – Army troopers, on patrol to ensure security of a supposed oil-rich area at the boundary of Oriental and Occidental Mindoro, drove away an estimated 40 armed members of the New People’s Army there after an hour of intense gunfight Monday afternoon, it was learned yesterday.
In a text report sent by Capt. Gregorio de Guzman, information officer of the Army’s 203rd Infantry Brigade based in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, it was learned that at about 1 p.m. Monday, while government troops under Charlie Company of the 80th Infantry Battalion were conducting area security at a remote Sitio Balingaso, Barangay Monteclaro in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, they chanced upon the said heavily-armed group of suspected communist rebels.
The NPAs are reportedly encamped at the said place, a neighboring area near the boundary of Bulalacao, Oriental Mindoro, on which a large portion there was leased by the national government to a multinational company to conduct oil exploration there.