Suspected NPA fighters killed in Baguio clash
BAGUIO CITY — Three alleged members of the New People’s Army were killed in a Friday morning (Mar. 13) clash with the police and soldiers who were about to serve arrest warrants for rebellion, murder and frustrated murder, and arson.
Police Col. Allen Rae Co said Julius Soriano Giron, the alleged head of the rebels’ national military commission, Lourdes Tan Torres, an alleged member of the Communist Party of the Philippines’ national health bureau, and an unidentified male companion were killed in a 3:30 a.m. firefight at Hamada subdivision in the Queen of Peace village after they allegedly resisted arrest.
Co said they were armed with handguns, grenades and an M-16 rifle. The gunbattle took place in a residential area but no other casualties were reported at press time.
On Thursday (Mar. 12), tarpaulins featuring the photographs of 49 alleged NPA rebels operating in the Cordillera, and the corresponding bounties on their heads, were circulated around Baguio, which is classified as a white zone or an area where neither the NPA nor soldiers can conduct military operations. Vincent Cabreza INQ
