Gov’t forces overrun NPA camp in northern Quezon

LUCENA CITY — Government forces overran an alleged training camp of communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in the Sierra Madre mountain ranges in northern Quezon Wednesday morning, the military said.

Capt. Patrick Jay Retumban, public affairs chief of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, said in a report that combined Army soldiers and policemen successfully invaded the camp after a 10-minute firefight against an estimated 30 Maoist-inspired guerrillas in the mountain village of Canaway in General Nakar town at about 9:55 a.m.

“The enemies, led by alias ‘Boyong,’ were forced to withdraw despite the relative advantage provided by their training camp’s defenses,” Brig. Gen. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr., commander of the Army’s 202nd Infantry, said in the report.

No casualty was reported on the government side.

Retumban said the camp had bloodstains on the rebel’s position during the firefight and also along their withdrawal route, which indicated casualties on the escaping guerillas.

The NPA training camp had 10 bunkers, which could accommodate more or less 60 rebels, according to the report.

The government forces also recovered blasting caps, improvised explosive devices, radio equipment, other war materials, and documents.

Additional forces have been deployed to pursue the escaping rebels while other military assets such as aircraft, patrol boats and tracking dogs have been alerted for possible offensive actions, Retumban said.

He said the encounter was the second clash between government forces and communist rebels in three days.

On Monday morning, Army soldiers engaged a band of NPA rebels in an encounter in San Juan, Batangas.

A soldier was wounded and an NPA amazona fighter was captured, the military said.

Maj. Gen. Rhoderick Parayno, 2nd ID commander, urged the soldiers “to be unrelenting and to remain steadfast in the pursuit for just and lasting peace and development by eradicating those who are anti-peace and anti-development.”

“We owe it to the Filipino people to finally put an end to the 50-year insurgency in the country,” Parayno said. /kga