NEWSBRIEFS

NUEVA ECIJA

4 rebels slain in clash

Four suspected communist rebels were killed in a five-minute firefight with government troops on Thursday at Sitio (settlement) Tamale in Barangay (village) Digmala in Bongabong town, said Brigadier General Alan Luga, commander of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division.

He identified one of the fatalities as Benjamin Peralta alias Gani or Onil, the secretary of a New People’s Army unit operating in Nueva Ecija and Aurora. The other slain rebels were identified only by their aliases.

The military earlier classified Nueva Ecija and Aurora as rebel-free areas. The government soldiers recovered from the encounter site an M16 rifle, a carbine rifle, a handgun, two improvised explosive devices, two fragmentation grenades and antigovernment materials.—Armand Galang, Inquirer Central Luzon

MASBATE

More aftershocks

A magnitude 4.2 earthquake rocked Masbate City at about 4:12 p.m. on Sunday, the Philippine Institute of Seismology and Volcanology (Phivolcs) said in a bulletin posted on its website.

The epicenter was located right at the city or about 4 kilometers east of the city proper, basing from the coordinates issued by the Phivolcs.

It was immediately followed by another magnitude 3.8 tremor after 27 minutes, with the epicenter located just 4 kilometers south of the city proper, or almost over the city again.

A magnitude 2.9 temblor was also recorded earlier in the day, or at about 8:17 a.m., the Phivolcs said.

The epicenter of the morning quake was located just 7 kilometers north of the city proper.

Phivolcs said the three quakes were aftershocks of the magnitude 5.2 quake that hit Masbate City on Monday and caused the collapse of a two-story building. The quake also damaged at least 20 other structures and injured at least eight persons.—Jonas Cabiles Soltes, Inquirer Southern Luzon