4 NPA rebels killed in Bukidnon clash

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 8, 2022): 4 NPA rebels killed in Bukidnon clash (By Franck Dick Rosete)

SEIZED REBEL WEAPONS. The high-powered firearms, magazines, and live ammunition seized by government troops following an encounter with communist rebels in Barangay Tikalaan, Talakag, Bukidnon, Wednesday afternoon (April 6, 2022). Four rebels were killed in the two-hour gun battle. (Photo courtesy of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division)

Four communist New People’s Army (NPA) combatants were killed during an encounter with state forces in Talakag town, Bukidnon, police and military authorities said Friday.

Wednesday's afternoon clash in Barangay Tikalaan resulted in the death of NPA fighters Carlisio D. Sumalinog, Jovilito D. Pontillas, Gary I. Juliana, and Jelly A. Sugnot, reports from the Bukidnon Police Provincial Office (BPPO) and Army's 403rd Infantry Brigade (403Bde) said.

It also led to the seizure of 16 high-powered firearms consisting of seven M16 rifles, an M203 grenade launcher, two Carbine rifles, an M653 rifle, three Garand rifles, and an AK-47 and M14 rifles.

In a statement, Col. Jun Mark Lagare, BPPO director, said troopers from the 1st Special Force Battalion (1SFB) were conducting an operation in Barangay Tikalaan when they engaged some 30 rebels in a two-hour gun battle.

Lagare said reinforcements from the police’s 1004th Maneuver Company of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion-10 and the Talakag municipal police station arrived minutes later to secure the encounter site and set up a choke point.

When the smoke cleared, troopers rushed the four wounded NPA rebels to the Talakag Provincial Hospital but were declared dead on arrival.

The rest of the NPA fighters splintered into small groups and withdrew to various directions, Lagare said, adding that government forces did not incur any casualty.

The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

The National Democratic Front (NDF) has been formally designated as a terrorist organization by the Anti-Terrorism Council on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and inseparable part” of the CPP-NPA created in April 1973.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1171746