Five still unidentified alleged New People’s Army rebels were killed and firearms were seized in a series of encounters with 62nd Infantry “Unifier” Battalion soldiers in Brgy Quintin Remo, Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental, today, May 20, the 62 IB reported.
The 62nd Infantry “Unifier” Battalion launched combat operations in response to information regarding the planned NPA atrocities in Moises Padilla and La Castellana, Negros Occidental, resulting in the series of encounters with the rebels in Brgy Quintin Remo, Moises Padilla, the 62IB statement said.
The first encounter with 14 rebels at Sitio Napiluan occurred at 5:05 a.m. and lasted for 10 minutes, prompting the NPA fighters to splinter into smaller groups and withdrew towards the southwest direction.
The second encounter took place when six NPA rebels engaged another platoon of the 62IB at Sitio Oway-Oway 5:40 a.m., which lasted for 10 minutes. On the rebels withdrawal another 5 minutes firefight took place when the blocking team of 62IB spotted five fleeing rebels in the same sitio, the Army added.
The series of encounters resulted in death of the five rebels. There were no casualties on the government’s side, the 62IB said.
Recovered from the rebels were one M-16 rifle, two .38 caliber pistols, a KG9 machine pistol with magazine assembly, one UZI machine pistol with magazine assembly, two homemade 12 gauge shotguns, four rifle grenade ammunition, four .38 caliber live ammunition, one 12 gauge ammunition, two .45 caliber magazines, two baofeng radios, one keypad cellphone, 15 backpacks, one bandolier, one NPA Flag, various medical paraphernalia, food supplies, enemy war materiel, and personal belongings, the 62IB said.
The 62IB troops with the personnel of the Moises Padilla police station and Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) were retrieving the five cadavers from the encounter sites, it said.
“This is a clear manifestation that the people of Moises Padilla are no longer active in giving support to the human rights violators and opportunist NPA terrorists,” the 62IB statement said
It said its soldiers will tirelessly hunt the remnants of the rebel group to ensure that sustainable peace and development will be achieved in Central Negros.*