Update: 9 killed in Negros Occidental ambush

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 27): Update: 9 killed in Negros Occidental ambush

Police and soldiers are now pursuing the group of armed men,suspected to be members of the New People's Army (NPA), which perpetrated the ambush in Brgy, Puso, La Castellana, Negros Occidental barely past 3 a.m. Sunday.

Latest police report reaching here said the number of fatalities climbed to nine including a police officer identified as PO1 Richard Canja (not Tamba as earlier reported). Three of those killed were members of the Barangay Patrol Action Team (BPAT) identified as Jonathan Mateo, Ulysses Tamayor and Ramir Compleza and two tanod (security) members of Brgy. Puso identified as Mario Ricablanca and Timoteo Esplegera; truck driver Ricky Dingcong and civilian Lito Lucban and Virginia Ordonez.

Two police officers were also wounded during the ambuscade reportedly staged by members of the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels operating in central Negros towns. PO2 Jeffrey Alvarez and PO3 Constantino Villegas both sustained sustain bullet wounds on their lower limbs.

Based on the police report, the three police officers along with BPAT members were deployed to Brgy. Puso to maintain the peace and order during Saturday's fiesta celebration. The victims were waylaid on their way home on board the Canter truck by more or less 15 armed men with high-powered firearms and peppered the trucks with bullets.

The truck driven by the slain Dingcong had 22 passengers, eight of whom are children. PO2 Dennis Melgareho of the La Castellana Police Station said initial investigation showed that before the gunmen left,they finished off the victims by shooting them on the head.

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police (PNP)and military authorities in Negros Occidental have yet to determine the motive behind the ambush. Though they believed that the ambuscade was the handiwork of NPAs based on the testimonies of survivors who overheard the armed group shouting “Mabuhay and CPP-NPA” before they left.

Police and military authorities in Negros strongly condemned the ambush that even civilians were not spared by the NPA's desperate armed struggle. Surrounded by vast sugar plantation and located in the mountain area of La Castellana, the said barangay is also included in the list of "election areas of concern."

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=&sid=&nid=&rid=491383