NPA hitman nabbed, CAFGU hurt: Army

From the Visayan Daily Star (Oct 17): NPA hitman nabbed, CAFGU hurt: Army

A suspected New People's Army hitman was arrested Sunday in Brgy. Trinidad, Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental, when his comrades harassed and fired at an isolated military outpost that day in the adjacent Brgy. Sandayao in the city.

Lt. Col. Wilfredo Isaac, 11 th Infantry Battalion commander, yesterday said the arrest of Juan Butalid in Sitio Punong, Brgy. Trinidad, Guihulngan City, yielded an improvised 5.56 Springfield gun with six live ammunition. A fragmentation grenade was also recovered from his military backpack, he said.

The arrest of Butalid was made several hours after suspected NPA rebels harassed a military detachment in Brgy. Sandayao, Guihulngan City, where a member of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit, identified as Ariel Celestino, was hit in the abdomen during the harassment.

Isaac, however, said Celestino, who is now in stable condition, is being treated at the Camp Lapu Lapu Station Hospital in Cebu City, where he was evacuated by an Air Force helicopter from the military outpost.

Based on the confession of Butalid, Isaac said the NPA retaliated after nine members of its Yunit Militia in Brgy. Quintin Remo, Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental and Brgy. Trinidad, Guihulngan City, severed ties with the revolutionary movement, and surrendered 17 assorted firearms, including an anti-tank weapon, ammunition for 60mm mortar, and 12 rifle grenades.

Butalid admitted that the NPA is trying its best to win back the sympathy and support of their mass-based supporters in Guihulngan, where Army Bayanihan Teams are immersed with the populace in conflict-affected depressed communities in central Negros, Isaac added.

The 11IB is facilitating the availment of cash assistance for the nine ex-rebels, who surrendered firearms and explosives to its unit, under the Armed Forces of the Philippines Guns for Peace Program.

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2013/October/17/negor4.htm