3 cops hurt in Quezon ambush; 1 NPA killed

MANILA, Philippines - Army reinforcement intercepted a platoon of New People’s Army who ambushed an 11-man police team in San Andres, Quezon Sunday afternoon, killing one of the rebels in the fighting that ensued.

Until yesterday morning, off and on skirmishes continued as troops from the 74th Infantry Battalion under Lt. Col. Dennis Perez were able to catch up with the main NPA group behind the ambush, said 1Lt. Celeste Frank Sayson, Second Infantry Division spokesman.

“We hit the main body,” Sayson said referring to yesterday’s ongoing skirmishes between Army troops and the NPA rebels within the area of San Andres.

Pursuing troops has so far recovered a body of an NPA rebel abandoned by his fleeing comrades, he said.

On the other hand, three policemen, including San Andres police chief Senior Inspector Glenn Miralles, PO1s Arvin Sayson and Christopher Icaro, reported missing by their colleagues, have been recovered by Army search teams yesterday morning.

“The three policemen were found safe at around 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. yesterday,” Sayson said.

Miralles as well as Sayson and Icaro got separated from their colleagues when some 30 NPA rebels simultaneously fired at their police vehicle in the vicinity Sitio Dau, Barangay Talisay, San Andres town at about 3 p.m. Sunday.

Miralles was leading a 10-man police team to investigate a reported poll-related incident in the area in connection with yesterday’s barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections, when fired upon by the rebels.

Outgunned and outnumbered, the policemen, three of them wounded, held their group for several hours before the arrival of Army reinforcements from the 72nd Infantry Battalion.                    – With Ed Amoroso, AP