Four members of the New People’s Army (NPA) and two soldiers were killed in a series of encounters in Sitio Green Valley, Dalwangan, Malaybalay City on Thursday evening, the military said in a statement Friday.
The military said the 11-man team under the 1st Special Forces Battalion (SFB) was constructing a Patrol Base when attacked by about 30 fully-armed NPA rebels at about 9 p.m.
Lt. Col. Sergio Macarandan Jr., commanding officer of 1st SFB, expressed his sympathy to the bereaved families of the soldiers. He was unable to divulge the names of the slain soldiers.
Despite the incidence, Macarandan directed his unit to continue the task of "defeating the communist NPA terrorists through community support programs."
According to him, the troops were conducting community support activities following requests from residents to set up a Patrol Base to secure them from NPA rebels, who were extorting money from the poultry farms in the area.
Col. Edgardo de Leon, 403rd Infantry Brigade commander, denied an earlier report indicating four casualties on the government side.
De Leon said pursuit operations were still being conducted as of posting time, and that government troops managed to recover from the fleeing rebels two M-16 rifles, two unexploded anti-personnel mines, and various types of ammunition.
He said the recovered anti-personnel mines can kill civilians, who are unaware of their devastating effect and could have picked them up out of curiosity.
“Indeed, our troop’s timely recovery of the NPA’s anti-personnel mines saved the lives of the public," the Army official said.
"The NPA’s continuing use of anti-personnel mines is among the reasons why the international community, particularly the EU (European Union) and the US (United States), declared the CPP-NPA as a terrorist group,” he added.
De Leon was referring to the Communist Party of the Philippines, the NPA's mother organization.
He said the NPA’s continuing use of anti-personnel mines is a complete disregard of the Ottawa Convention banning the use of anti-personnel mines because of its mutilating effect on the victims.
De Leon said the NPA rebels "are not different from the IS (Islamic State) terrorists who also use anti-personnel mines."
Citing Republic Act No. 10168 or the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012, de Leon reminded the public about an individual's or an organization's liability in case they provide assistance to the CPP-NPA.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1062100
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