COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Unidentified assailants shot dead three personnel of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit-Civilian Active Auxiliary in Pikit, Cotabato yesterday.
Joel Chavez, Ariel Cedino Jr. and Uy-Uy Mancera were on a motorcycle on their way to the town proper when the assailants ambushed them in Barangay Manaulanan.
The victims, who were unarmed, died at the scene. Investigation is ongoing.
Meanwile, in Negros Oriental, a suspected New People’s Army (NPA) guerrilla was killed while several firearms and explosives were recovered following separate encounters in Guihulngan City on Saturday.
Army troopers were conducting humanitarian and disaster response operations in Barangay Planas when villagers alerted them that NPA rebels were extorting money from residents in Sitio Mambog.
The gunmen reportedly opened fire at the approaching soldiers, triggering an encounter that lasted 30 minutes, according to Brig. Gen. Inocencio Pasaporte, chief of the Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade.
Pursuing soldiers figured in another encounter with the fleeing rebels in the nearby village of Buenavista, which resulted in the death of a guerrilla. – Gilbert Bayoran