NPAs kill 2 soldiers in Albay

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines – New People’s Army (NPA) hit men gunned down two Army soldiers who were assigned to monitor a dance party in Guinobatan, Albay past midnight Tuesday, the military said.

Maj. Narsan Obuyes, operations officer of the 2nd Infantry Battalion based in Ligao City, identified the victims as Privates First Class Jayve Villagones, 23, and Alfredo Leonillo, 21.

Obuyes said the two enlisted personnel, who were in civilian clothes and carried no service firearms, were buying something from a store while the dance party in Barangay Sinungtan was going on, when they were attacked.

“The successive shots from .45-caliber pistols were drowned out by the loud music,” Obuyes said.

Chief Inspector Pio Valencia, Guinobatan police chief, immediately dispatched a team to Sinungtan, an NPA-influenced village about 30 kilometers from the town proper, to conduct an investigation. – Celso Amo, Cet Dematera, Alexis Romero