INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
BACOLOD CITY — Six alleged high-profile personalities of the New People’s Army (NPA), including two females, were killed in an encounter at 7:50 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 21, with the Army’s 47th Infantry Battalion at Sitio Lubi, Barangay Tabugon, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental.
The incident happened hours after the Regional Joint Security Control Center approved the declaration of 172 barangays in Western Visayas as election areas of concern.
Killed in Kabankalan were Alejo Delos Reyes, leader of Squad 2 of the NPA’s Sangay Yunit Propaganda Platoon 3; Marjon Alvior and Bobby Pedro, vice squad leaders of the platoon; Mario Fajardo Mullon, Squad 1 medic; Melissa Dela Peña, the wife of Reyes; and a still unidentified female member of the group, the Army’s 3rd Division report read.
Brigadier General Joey Escanillas, 302nd Infantry Brigade commander, said the fatalities were members of the South-Western Front of the NPA’s Regional Committee-Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor.
The soldiers were responding to a tip from residents in the area about the presence of armed rebels extorting and collecting food from them.
A 10-minute firefight ensued between the government troops and the communist rebels, Escanillas said.
Recovered from the encounter site were four .45 caliber pistols, a .38 caliber revolver, a hand grenade, various magazines and ammunition, electronic gadgets, personal belongings and several antigovernment documents of high intelligence value.
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