5 soldiers hurt in Quezon ambush

CAMP GUILLERMO NAKAR, Philippines — Five soldiers were wounded in an ambush staged by suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in General Luna town in Quezon yesterday.

The soldiers were with other members of an engineering battalion when they were waylaid in Barangay Bacong Ilaya at around 9:30 a.m., Col. Teody Toribio, acting Southern Luzon Command spokesman, said.

Two of the victims were taken to the Catanauan Hospital for treatment.

Meanwhile, five members of the NPA auxilliary force surrendered in Rizal, Cagayan and another rebel in Camarines Sur.

In Negros Occidental, NPA rebels pulled over a tractor driven by Manuel Jamandre Jr. and set off a grenade after burning it.

Chief Inspector Irma Teoxon, La Castellana police chief, said the owner of the tractor, Jorge Vargas of Hacienda Conchita in Baranga Sag-ang, reportedly failed to pay so-called revolutionary tax. – Gilbert Bayoran, Celso Amo, Artemio Dumlao