Troops preempt another NPA arson attempt; four soldiers wounded

From the Manila Bulletin (Mar 8, 2019): Troops preempt another NPA arson attempt; four soldiers wounded
Four government soldiers were wounded following an encounter with Communist New People’s Army (NPA) terrorists in Quezon on Friday.

A military report disclosed that Army and police forces conducting strike operations preempted another NPA arson attempt when they encountered a still undetermined number of rebels in Sitio Salok, Barangay Magsaysay, Infanta town, Quezon, at about 8 a.m. Friday.

Four government security forces were wounded, while losses are expected on the enemy side based on the heavy bloodstains along their withdrawal route after the 30-minute firefight.

The names of the wounded soldiers were withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Brig. Gen. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr., commander of the 202nd Infantry (UNIFIER) Brigade which has operational jurisdiction over the area, said that the encounter site was about three kilometers away from the area of Northern Builders, the contractor of Kaliwa Dam project whose equipment were burned by the NPA terrorists last February 7.

He added that the “the encounter is a result of our continuing operations to punish the enemies of the state who are terrorizing helpless private companies who refuse to give in to their extortion demands.”

Burgos, at the same time, reaffirmed the soldiers’ unwavering commitment to protect the numerous projects in the brigade’s area of operations since it will pave the way for prosperity and development which the people will enjoy.

Kaliwa Dam is one of the 76 ongoing flagship and developmental projects in CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon).

Lt. Col. Christopher Diaz, commander of the 80th Infantry Battalion, said the military operation was intelligence-driven and a calibrated response to an information given by a reliable source that a group of NPAs was about to conduct atrocities in Infanta, specifically the burning of construction equipment belonging to Northern Builders.

He added that the wounded soldiers have been evacuated, and were being given the best possible medical attention while “additional forces have been deployed to pursue the fleeing terrorists who have been on the run trying to escape the long arms of the law.”

The military believes that the group is part of the NPA unit which they encountered in Luisiana, Laguna in February 14 wherein John Carlo Alberto alias Damian/Iñigo, a student of University of the Philippines-Los Baños, was killed after he was recruited and deceived by the communist terrorists to join their armed group as a fighter.

Maj. Gen. Rhoderick Parayno, the Commander of the Second Infantry Division, expressed his gratitude to the people of Infanta for voluntarily providing information to the security forces.

“This is not only a testament of their trust to their soldiers but a manifestation that they are already tired of the NPAs’ anti-people and anti-development terroristic actions,” Parayno said.

He said that such claim was supported by the fact that the local officials of Real and Infanta expressed their intentions to declare the NPA terrorists as persona non grata” in their respective towns.

Parayno, at the same time, lauded his soldiers for their “readiness to respond to our people’s plight and their willingness to sacrifice their lives and limbs for the greater good of the very people whom we have sworn to serve.”

He also reiterated his call to the few remaining NPAs in Region 4A to choose their families over their comrades, to choose peace over conflict and to choose to be productive members of the society over being extortionists who terrorize their fellow Filipinos.

https://news.mb.com.ph/2019/03/08/troops-preempt-another-npa-arson-attempt-four-soldiers-wounded/