New People’s Army. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
LUCENA CITY, Philippines-–At least two suspected New People’s Army rebels were killed in an encounter with Army soldiers in Tayabas City on Monday afternoon, a regional military spokesman said Tuesday morning.
In a statement, Lt. Col.Lloyd Cabacungan, spokesman of the Armed Forces Southern Luzon Command, said that at 4:15 p.m., patrolling soldiers from the 85th Infantry Battalion engaged a band of still undetermined number of rebels in Sitio (sub-village) Pinagbanderahan in Barangay (village) Palali.
Cabacungan identified one of the slain communist guerrillas as a certain Peping Agudo, alleged logistics and finance officer of an NPA platoon under the Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee (STRPC).
The other rebel casualty has yet to be identified.
Military record showed Agudo was captured in 2012 and jailed in Bicutan. However, he was able to jump bail and return to the underground movement.
The Army soldiers also recovered two M16 rifles, one M14 rifle, and five backpacks with antigovernment documents left behind at the encounter site by the fleeing rebels.
Lt. Gen. Caesar Ronnie Ordoyo lauded the soldiers for the successful operation and called on the rebels to surrender and return to the fold of the law.