Transport leader among the dead NPA rebels in Sorsogon clash

DONSOL, Sorsogon — A transport leader in Bicol was among the three New People’s Army (NPA) rebels killed in an encounter in Barangay Pinamanaan of this town on Tuesday, the NPA in Sorsogon said in a statement released Wednesday morning.

NPA’s Celso Minguez Command operating in Sorsogon province identified Joel Ascutia, who headed the Concerned Drivers and Operators-Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operator (Condor-Piston), was one of the slain rebels. The two others were identified by military officials as Christian Llagas and Leopoldo Nebres.

The statement said Ascutia, alias “Ka Pepe,” joined the communist rebels after seeking refuge from them last year. Ascutia was president of Condor-Piston from 2005 until last year.

The rebel command “saluted the three slain NPA rebels for their revolutionary work in organizing the masses and hailed them as martyrs.”

“Ascutia survived harassment and attempt on his life while still in the open mass movement,” added their statement.

On July 13, 2009 Ascutia, a resident of Legazpi City, survived an attack by motorcycle-riding assailants in Daraga, Albay while the transport group joined the nationwide strike to protest oil prices. He survived the attack but was shot five times and hit in the leg and abdomen.

Colonel Felix Castro Jr., commander of the 903rd Brigade in Castilla, Sorsogon, told the INQUIRER that Army soldiers chanced upon a group of some 15 NPA leaders at around 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

The scene of encounter was around a half kilometer away from the village center of Pinamanaan, a remote village in Donsol, Sorsogon that is also in the boundary of Jovellar town in Albay.

Castro said the Army soldiers of the 31st Infantry Battalion recovered from one of the NPA rebels an identification card with Ascutia’s name on it and an M16 rifle, 9 mm pistol, personal belongings and documents of “high intelligence value.”