Army says 1 NPA guerrilla killed in Negros Occidental town clash

BACOLOD CITY—The military on Thursday (Nov. 6) said a New People’s Army (NPA) guerrilla was killed in a clash with government soldiers at a village in Moises Padilla town, Negros Occidental.

Capt. Kelvin Bayaban, civil military operations officer of the Army’s 3rd Infantrby Division, identified the slain guerrilla as Rio Jacaba. Bayaban said Jacaba suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

Bayaban said the clash erupted after soldiers checked a report by residents of the village of Macagahay about the presence of suspicious-looking men in the area.

He said when the soldiers arrived at the village, the guerrillas immediately opened fire.

Found in the clash site were firearms believed being used by the guerrillas and communist documents which guerrillas were believed to be using for recruitment in the area, according to Bayaban.

Col. Inocencio Pasaporte, 303rd Brigade commander, thanked of Macagahay village for reporting the presence of guerrillas in their community.

He called on the remaining guerrillas in central Negros to abandon their armed struggle and return to the folds of the law.

Pasaporte cited the Moises Padilla Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict as a tool to “unify and harmonize” counterinsurgency efforts of the government in the province.

TSB