ILOILO CITY — Communist rebels ambushed a government patrol in San Remigio, Antique, on Friday, killing a soldier and two militiamen a day after the Army declared the neighboring province of Aklan as insurgency-free.
The Antique police identified the fatalities in the 15-minute gunfire as Cpl. Absalon Labitan, 49; and militiamen Winnie Juayang, 36; and Vivencio Mutha, 31.
At least 30 New People’s Army rebels took the victims’ rifles, ammunition and radio handset, police said.
The slain soldier and militiamen were part of a seven-member team who were on combat patrol in San Remigio, some 21 km from the capital town of San Jose.
Soldiers from the 82nd Infantry Battalion were sent after the rebels, who were said to be under the Napoleon Tumagtang Command of the Southern Front Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines in Panay.
The attack came a day after the Army formally declared the provinces of Aklan and Leyte as insurgency-free. /INQUIRER