MABALACAT CITY, Pampanga—A suspected official and a member of the New People’s Army (NPA) died in an alleged armed encounter last week with police and military personnel in Barangay San Juan De Mata in Tarlac City.
In a statement released Sunday (July 18), the Tarlac Police Provincial Office identified the alleged rebels as Neptali Santos, alias “Ka Mac/Ka Atong,” and a certain “Sandy Snu.”
Police tagged Santos as a member of the NPA’s executive committee in Central Luzon and former secretary of the group’s Tarlac-Zambales platoon.
The provincial police said its personnel, along with government soldiers, were trying to serve two warrants of arrest issued by a court in 2006 for robbery and in 2012 for arson against Santos when the alleged shootout happened around 11:30 p.m.
The police allegedly found a Colt M16 rifle with four live bullets, a Smith & Wesson caliber .38 revolver with four live bullets, and a body bag containing two hand grenades near the slain men’s bodies.
Scene of Crime operatives also found 19 fired cartridges for M16 and nine fired cartridges for a caliber 9mm gun.