The skirmish occured amid public outrcry over the attempt on the life of Gingoog City Mayor Ruth Lara Guingona, wife of former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr., last Saturday by communist rebels at the insurgents’ checkpoint between Binakalan and Kapitulangan villages in Misamis Oriental province.
Mrs. Guingona, 78, and outgoing mayor of Gingoog, was wounded in the ambush while her driver and bodyguard were killed.
The attack prompted President Benigno Aquino III last Monday to order the military to crush all NPA checkpoints, and security forces have begun “massive redeployment and repositioning” to give flesh to the directive.
In Thursday’s incident, the military said soldiers from the Army’s 66th Infantry Battalion encountered about 30 armed rebels in Magangit, New Bataan at about 9 a.m.
They were believed to be from Front 27, Southern Mindanao Committee, said Major Emmanuel Garcia, deputy chief of Armed Forces of the Philippines Public Affairs Office.
There were no casualties from the government side.
Also, five M16 armalite rifles and one M14 rifle were recovered.