Soldiers neutralize 2 senior NPA officials in Misamis Oriental clash

COTABATO CITY — Soldiers shot dead two senior leaders of the New People’s Army, wanted for more than 30 high-profile criminal cases in different courts, in a brief encounter in Barangay Bal-ason in Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental on Wednesday.

In separate reports on Friday, Brig. Gen. Adonis Ariel Orio, commander of the Army’s 402nd Infantry Brigade, and the Misamis Oriental Provincial Police Office identified the slain guerillas as Zaldy Galamiton and John-John Ramos, both officials of NPA’s self-styled North Central Mindanao Committee, whose top leaders are also wanted by different courts for various criminal offenses.

The firefight between the group of Galamiton and Ramos erupted when they opened fire at soldiers from the 16th Infantry Battalion while approaching their location in Barangay Bal-ason to check on reports by local officials about their presence in the area, collecting food and money from hapless villagers at gunpoint.

Officials of the Gingoog City Police Office and the Misamis Oriental PPO said that the companions of Galamiton and Ramos scampered away after 16th IB personnel felled them one after another with assault rifles.

Policemen and soldiers found beside the cadavers of Galamiton and Ramos an M16 assault rifle each and a bag filled with components for improvised explosive devices.