NPA Sagay attack: two killed, 2 injured

From the Visayan Daily Star (May 23): NPA Sagay attack: two killed, 2 injured

A week after the ambush-slay of three Army soldiers in Toboso, suspected New People's Army rebels struck again, by attacking yesterday the bunk houses of agrarian reform beneficiaries in Sitio Buntod Aliwanay, Brgy. General Luna in Sagay City, Negros Occidental, killing two civilians and inflicting injuries to two others, the military and police said.

Chief Inspector Eduardo Corpuz, Sagay City police chief, yesterday said that the two slain civilians he identified as Dionesio Ebañez, 44, and Jose Pios,51, are both agrarian reform beneficiaries, and members of the Aliwanay Farm Workers Association Beneficiaries under the Tupaz Foundation.

Special CAFGU members Sonny Respondo and Alex Garcia, who were off-duty, and members of the Regional Public Safety Battalion 18 responded to the incident and engaged the suspected NPA rebels in a brief firefight. As a result, Respondo, 38, was injured, while Garcia was taken by the rebels, as they withdrew towards Sitio Biernesan of the barangay, Corpuz said.

Also injured during the raid was Jodito Lutrago, an agrarian reform beneficiary and a member of ronda patrol, he added.

Corpuz said the fleeing rebels also burned three bunk houses of the agrarian reform beneficiaries.

The sitio is about two kilometers away from the General Luna barangay proper, where the PNP public safety company headquarters is located.

Recovered from the scene of the incident were 300 empty shells of M-16, M-4 and AK-47 automatic rifles, 20 live ammunition and an unexploded M67 fragmentation grenade.

The fleeing rebels reportedly brought with them 10 high-powered firearms, including three M-16 assault rifles, five carbine rifles, an M-14 assault rifle and an M-79 grenade launcher.

Senior Supt. William Señoron, provincial police director of Negros Occidental, however, said they are still validating the reported loss of firearms to the NPA.

Members of the 62nd Infantry Battalion, who established a blocking force, managed to engage the fleeing rebels in a firefight in Brgy. Paitan, Escalante City. However, no casualty has been reported in both sides. Señoron said the encounter may have prompted the fleeing rebels to release Garcia.

Police investigation showed that agrarian reform beneficiaries in the barangay have formed the Aliwanay Farmers A ssociation to protect themselves, as the property awarded to them by the Department of Agrarian Reform is slowly being encroached on by members of the National Federation of Sugarcane Workers, who are also claiming to be agrarian reform beneficiaries.

Corpuz said he believes that the NPA rebels, estimated by witnesses at between 30 to 50, were also behind the recent ambush of three Army soldiers in Brgy. San Isidro, Toboso.

The Roselyn Pelle Command of the New People Army Northern Negros Guerilla Front, that claimed responsibility for the death of three Army soldiers and the injury of two others on May 14, also recovered three M-16 rifles from the slain government troopers.

On May 1, the same rebel group claimed responsibility for the death of an Army intelligence operative in the same barangay, from whom they also took a .45 caliber pistol.

2Lt. Ma. Revekka   Roperos ,   303rd Infantry Brigade's  P ublic information Officer, yesterday clarified reports that what the NPA had raided at about 5:30 a.m. yesterday, was not a CAFGU detachment, and those who died, were also not CAFGU members.

The individuals killed were farmers resting in their bunk house, Roperos.

While she acknowledged initial report on the loss of firearms, Roperos said it still remains an allegation, pending investigations being conducted by the police.

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2016/May/23/topstory1.htm