Soldier, 2 rebels killed in Negros clash

CEBU CITY—A soldier and two suspected communist rebels were killed in an encounter on Saturday in Barangay (village) Bucalan, Canlaon City, Negros Oriental.

The fatalities were identified as Private First Class Edmund Prieto, of Banga town in Aklan; and Argie Villasan and Elmer Cañete, said Major Enrico Illeto, information officer of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division (ID), in an e-mailed statement.

Villasan and Cañete were allegedly members of the New People’s Army (NPA) Special Partisan Unit. They were identified by Ronnel Josalita, who owned the house in Bucalan where the rebels allegedly stayed. Josalita was taken into custody by the soldiers.

Illeto said the soldiers received a tip that NPA rebels were staying in Josalita’s house. When the soldiers went to Josalita’s house to verify the information, Illeto said they were fired upon by an undetermined number of rebels.

Prieto and the two rebels were killed during the firefight.

The body of Prieto would be brought to his hometown in Banga after his family had been informed about his death, said Illeto. He added they were coordinating with the local officials to determine where the rebels were from so their families would be informed.

In Davao City, some 200 people fled their community in Trento, Agusan del Sur, following a series of military bomb runs there after soldiers clashed with communist rebels last week, human rights group Karapatan said.

In an advisory, Karapatan Southern Mindanao said residents of Sitio 33 in Barangay New Visayas feared that bombs unleashed by military aircraft would hit their homes.

“About 30 families sought shelter at the New Visayas Barangay Hall while 24 families evacuated to Barangay Pulang Lupa,” Karapatan said, adding that seven bombs were dropped in the village.

Melchor Malimbasao, 54, and a pastor in New Visayas, said “the military was carelessly dropping bombs without thinking about the safety of the people in the communities.”

Lieutenant Colonel Cesar Molina, commander of the 25th Infantry Battalion, which has jurisdiction over the town, confirmed that the military conducted bomb runs against NPA rebels holed in the hinterlands of the village.

The bomb runs were the military’s response to a series of clashes with NPA rebels that injured four soldiers last week, he said. However, Molina denied that the aerial bombings were indiscriminately done.

“In fact, we used precision rockets from our helicopters during the aerial strikes,” Molina said.—Carmel Matus, Inquirer Visayas; and Karlos Manlupig, Inquirer Mindanao