Soldier killed in Quezon clash with communist rebels

From the Manila Times (Nov 5): Soldier killed in Quezon clash with communist rebels

A soldier was killed in a clash between troops and communist insurgents in Quezon, the Philippine Army said on Monday.

The fatality was identified as Private James Lanes, 24, who hails from Sultan Kudarat.

Lt. Col. Christopher Diaz, commanding officer of the Army’s 92nd Infantry Battalion, said soldiers were conducting focus-military operations at Sitio Dadyangao in Barangay Umiray, General Nakar when the encounter happened on November 4.
Troops acted on an intelligence report and tips from civilians that members of the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), were allegedly extorting rice and money from the Dumagat Indigenous People.

Diaz said there were two encounters.

The first happened at about 10:40 a.m. on Sunday when soldiers chanced upon an undetermined number of NPA rebels under Platoon 4A2, Guerilla Front Cesar of the Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee.

The firefight, which lasted for 20 minutes, resulted in the deaths of Lanes and an undetermined number from the rebel side based on “the heavy blood stain in their position.”

Pursuit operations by the same troops led to a second encounter in Sitio Madaraki at about 11:45 p.m.

There were no reported casualties in the fight that lasted for 15 minutes.

Brig. Gen. Arnulfo Marcelo B. Burgos Jr., commander of the 202nd Brigade, which has jurisdiction over Calabarzon, said that the Army was getting close to beating the NPA in the area and believed that the rebels were “now running out of ammunitions with the recent two encounters.”

“They are now tired and they have wounded comrades. We will pursue these NPA remnants until they are destroyed,” Burgos said.

Calabarzon is Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon.

https://www.manilatimes.net/soldier-killed-in-quezon-clash-with-communist-rebels/462672/