‘Slain NPA rebel in Laguna clash was UPLB student’

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Feb 14, 2019): ‘Slain NPA rebel in Laguna clash was UPLB student’
 
SAN PEDRO CITY, Philippines – The New People’s Army (NPA) rebel killed in Thursday’s encounter with the military was an undergraduate student of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), his colleagues said.

The fatality was identified as John Carlo Capistrano Alberto, an undergraduate student of the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Alberto, who entered UPLB in 2013, was a graduate of the Pandan School for Arts and Technology in Pandan, a fourth class and remote town in Catanduanes province.

His fellow students, who knew Alberto personally but declined to be named for security reasons, said he joined the NPA last month.

Captain Patrick Jay Retumban, information officer of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, in a statement, said the encounter happened at around 9:30 a.m. in Sitio Pinamintian, Barangay San Buenaventura in Luisiana, Laguna.

He said two more female fighters were reportedly wounded.

A report from the Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon (Calabarzon) regional police, meanwhile, said the soldiers over ran an NPA camp where troops recovered two improvised explosives, detonators, magazines, ten tents, eight mobile phones and a computer tablet, which were believed to be rebels’ training materials.

Retumban said the rebels were responsible for the burning of construction equipment in Infanta, Quezon last Thursday.

In an emailed statement to the Inquirer last week, NPA’s Apolonio Mendoza Command claimed responsibility for setting on fire three backhoes and one bulldozer used in the construction of the Kaliwa Dam.

The rebels said the dam will affect the livelihood and eventually displace the indigenous communities affected by the government’s dam project.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1086009/slain-npa-rebel-in-laguna-clash-was-uplb-student