Clash between rebels, army troopers in Negros Oriental not election-related - AFP

From the Philippine News Agency (May 14): Clash between rebels, army troopers in Negros Oriental not election-related - AFP

The encounter between army troopers and some 30 armed members of New People’s Army (NPA) in Sitio Bungabong, Brgy Milagrosa, Sta. Catalina town in Negros Oriental was not election-related.

This was according to the statement Monday night of 302nd Infantry Brigade Commander Col. Francisco M. Patrimonio of Philippine Army.

Patrimonio explained that the 11:00 a.m. encounter on election day happened while the Army’s 79th IB led by 1Lt. Alexander Robillos were on combat operations.

Patrimonio said the armed rebels belonged to the NPA’s Southeast Front, Komiteng Rehiyon-Negros.

“The encounter was not an election related incident. The Brigade’s concept of security operations for the election includes complementary combat operation against the local terrorists to prevent them from taking advantage to conduct atrocities against military or civilian targets or vital installations,” Patrimonio said.

The 15-minute firefight killed Pfc. Aris L. De Emoy and wounded Pfc. Anastacio A. Aloba in his left foot.

The casualty was extracted from the encounter site via helicopter at around 4:30 pm.

Troops from the ground confirmed that two NPAs were hit and were carried by their comrades during their withdrawal, he said.

But Patrimonio said the fatalities from the rebel’s side were based on the bloodstains found by pursuing troops in the encounter site.

The troops were able to recover one homemade airgun, 115 rounds of 5.56mm M16A1 ammunition, 95 rounds of 7.62mm M14 ammunition and 1 bloodstained jungle pack.

Meanwhile, the casting of votes at the said barangay was successfully conducted as the government forces heightened its security operation to protect the voters at the polling places.

Pursuit operation is ongoing as more troops were deployed and helicopters from the Philippine Air Force were placed on standby on alert to support the ongoing combat operations.

The latest firefight followed a previous encounter that transpired two days ago between the troops of 79th IB led by Cpl. Ysrael Yosures with more or less seven NPAs at adjacent Sitio Maglangit in the same barangay.

No casualties were reported during the previous encounter. However, the government troops recovered various NPA paraphernalia.

 http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=524175