Two members of the New People’s Army (NPA) were killed in Brgy Canlusong, E.B Magalona, in a legitimate encounter with soldiers of the 79th Infantry Battalion, Brig. Gen. Orlando Edralin, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, said Thursday, October 19.
“What happened in EB Magalona was a legitimate encounter so whatever propaganda they throw against the Philippine Army, we are open to any investigation,” he said.
“It was a legitimate encounter considering that we captured several high power firearms,” he added. Killed were Christian Job Joaquin Vargas, known as Nacio, leader of Squad 3 of the dismantled Northern Negros Front, and his wife, Mylene Malasabas Salgado, known as Iba/Shien/Ruth, a member of Squad 3 and the Regional Striking Force, the Army reported.
Jocelyn Vargas, the mother of Christian Vargas, said on Wednesday that her son and his wife, who were farmers and not NPA rebels, were brutally killed by the Army.
Christian Vargas is the son of Arlo Vargas, known as Allen, one of the top leaders of the Communist Terrorist Group (CTG) in Western Visayas, who has a pending warrant of arrest for robbery in band, with a bounty of P550,000 on his head, the Army said.
Vargas’ brother, known as Hans, a Platoon 3 leader and the deputy head of the South West Front-Komiteng Rehiyon-Negros, was also killed in an encounter with the PNP’s 6th Special Action Force Battalion in Sitio Balik-balik, Barangay Tabu in Ilog town in September 2021.
Edralin pointed out that the couple who were killed in the EB Magalona encounter have existing warrants of arrest for attempted murder issued by Acting Presiding Judge Walter Zorilla of the Regional Trial Court Branch 56 in Himamaylan City.
Vargas also faces multiple outstanding warrants for murder, with no recommended bail, issued by the court in Kabankalan City.*