Rebel attacks on troops guarding machines rise

BAGUIO CITY—Two soldiers were killed while six others were wounded on Thursday when communist rebels attacked a military convoy delivering precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines to a village in Tabuk City, Kalinga, reports from the Cordillera police said.

Army Corporals Wilfredo Bacacao and Allen Pattaguan died when New People’s Army rebels fired at their truck in Sitio (sub-village) Patiking in Barangay (village) Dupag in Tabuk at 9:30 a.m.

The attack wounded Pfc. Delfin Goyagoy, S/Sgt. Rico de la Cuesta, S/Sgt. Michael Adducul,  Sgt. Wayne Aguinaldo,

T/Sgt. Herminigildo Vergara and T/Sgt. Constante Alupani.

On the same morning in Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental, a Marine was wounded when rebels attacked soldiers escorting a convoy carrying members of the Board of Election Inspectors and PCOS machines in Barangay Samay there, said Maj. Leo Bongosia, spokesperson of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division.

Chief Superintendent Benjamin Magalong, Cordillera police director, said police were evaluating the impact of the Tabuk attack on elections in Kalinga.

Kalinga and Abra are under close scrutiny because of “intense political rivalries,” according to a police evaluation report.

In a recent security deployment plan that was presented to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on April 25, the military proposed to increase augmentation teams for three villages in Tabuk City due to political rivalries and the presence of communist rebels.

The plan also proposed additional security personnel for

48 villages in the Kalinga towns of Balbalan, Lubuagan, Pasil, Pinukpuk, Rizal, Tanudan and Tinglayan, also because of threats from communist rebels.

Lawyer Jose Nick Mendros, acting Comelec director in the Cordillera, said Comelec officials would  proceed with the final testing of PCOS machines in Tabuk City. Reports from Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer N. Luzon, and Bobby Lagsa, Inquirer Mindanao