Rebel violence hits Negros

From the Manila Times (Jul 2): Rebel violence hits Negros

A series of armed attacks blamed on the communist New People’s Army (NPA) hit Negros Occidental in the past few weeks.

The latest victim was Biboy Gayagas, village captain of Barangay Bacong, Bago City, whose game fowl farm was raided by an undetermined number of armed men at 8 a.m. on Saturday.

Senior Insp. Joefer Cabura, Bago City police chief, said Gayagas was shot in the shoulders and feet and later brought to a private hospital in Bacolod City.
Responding police recovered empty shells of a carbine rifle.

Cabural said Gayagas had received several threats in the past but he refused to disclose details.

City police are running after the suspects.

The Bago City incident came two days after armed clashes between government forces and the communist guerrillas ensued in Sitio Agpapatao, Barangay Sandayao, Guihulngan City in Negros Oriental.

Capt. Eduardo Precioso, 303rd Infantry Brigade spokesman, said the encounters took place last Friday night after soldiers of the 79th Infantry Battalion (IB) responded to an information relayed to them by residents in the area about the presence of about 30 rebels, who were recruiting new members.

Precioso added that the 79th IB initially recovered an M14 assault rifle with ammunition, war materiel and subversive documents at the clash site as they pressed their pursuit operations against the fleeing rebels.

The NPA earlier admitted to killing a sugar planter and his driver in Calatrava town, the burning of an an abandoned detachment in Escalante City and the killing of a former Army soldier in Canlaon City in Negros Oriental.

The rebel army is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which has been waging a “people’s war” for nearly half a century.

http://www.manilatimes.net/rebel-violence-hits-negros/336194/