NEWSBRIEFS
3 NPA rebels killed
NORTH COTABATO — Three communist rebels were killed in an encounter with government soldiers in Barangay Biangan in Makilala town on Sunday, the military reported.
Lt. Manuel Gatus, chief of the civilian-military operations of the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion, said the soldiers discovered a New People’s Army (NPA) encampment while on foot patrol, resulting in a 30-minute clash.
The rebels withdrew to a nearby mountainous area, leaving behind the bodies of their comrades, Gatus said.
Two M-16 and two M-14 rifles were recovered from the site. Williamor A. Magbanua, Inquirer Mindanao
MAGUINDANAO
1 dead in clan war
A gang leader was killed in a clash between two armed groups in Barangay Benolen in Datu Odin Sinsuat town on Saturday, the military said.
Army Col. Leopoldo Galon, speaking for the Eastern Mindanao command, said the group of a certain Guiamalon Usop and that of Ayog Usop fought in Sitio Manibala. “It was a case of clan war or family feud,” he said.
It was not known how the Usops are related to each other. Guiamalon was killed and some of his followers were hurt in the fighting.
Citing intelligence reports, Galon said the group of Ayog has links with kidnap-for-ransom gangs operating in Maguindanao and Cotabato City.
Soldiers belonging to the 6th Infantry Battalion have put up mobile checkpoints to prevent the conflict from spreading to other villages. Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao
LUCENA CITY
Subdivision fire
At least 13 houses, mostly made of light materials, were gutted by a fire of still unknown origin inside a middle class subdivision in the city’s Barangay 7 on Saturday.
The fire started at around 9:30 a.m. at the house of one Dante de Chavez in Flores Subdivision and quickly spread to the two adjacent houses of Cosme Manimtim, according to a report released on Sunday by the city police.
At least 10 more shanties near the bank of Iyam River at the back of the subdivision were also razed, the report said.
No one was hurt during the two-hour blaze.
Most of the victims are now staying with their relatives while two families were evacuated in a nearby public elementary school building, according to Bert Abrigo, a staff member of the city public information office.
Flores is the oldest subdivision in the city, having been built way back in the early 1960s. Delfin Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon
