NPA rebel killed in Bukidnon encounter

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 6): NPA rebel killed in Bukidnon encounter

An unidentified rebel was killed as fresh fighting erupted anew between government troopers and the communist New People’s Army (NPA) in the hinterlands of Bukidnon on Tuesday morning.

A report reaching this camp today said that elements of the Army’s 8th Infantry Battalion encountered a team of more or less 10 NPA rebels in Sitio Kasilaan, Barangay Halapitan, San Fernando, Bukidnon during patrol in the area.

Lt. Col. Eugenio Julio Osias IV, spokesperson of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division here, said that the brief firefight left one unidentified rebel dead at the site of encounter.

Osias said the NPA team was led by Reynante Tumbalang a.k.a. Jigger, a propaganda team of Front Committee 6, North Central Mindanao Regional Committee which operates in the province of Bukidnon.

The troops believed that Tumbalang’s team was among the group of NPA rebels that figured an an armed encounter with the government troopers in the mountain barangay of Nakabuklad in San Fernando, Bukidnon last February 2.

Osias said that the government troopers suffered no casualty during the brief skirmishes.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=494904