Twelve New People’s Army (NPA) rebels and four Manobo tribal warriors were killed in the clash in Prosperidad town.
Col. Henry Dar, deputy commander of the Army’s 401st Brigade, told the Inquirer in an interview that the clash started when the rebels attacked the house of Calpito “Datu Calpit” Egua in Barangay (village) Sta. Irene.
Dar said some rebels, aboard two pickup vehicles, attacked Egua’s house, located about 500 meters from the national highway, around 5 a.m., not knowing that the house was already guarded by his Manobo tribal warriors called “baganis.”
Egua is acknowledged by the military and police as a leader of an anticommunist “lumad” group, thus allowing him to arm his baganis. He suffered slight wounds in his shoulder and is recuperating in an undisclosed hospital.
Three of the slain baganis were identified as Nestor Egua, Erick Piamonte and Titing Pabalate. Dar said the fourth bagani still had to be identified.
The bodies of the rebels, some still in their early teens, were scattered in front of Egua’s house, Dar said.
The NPA rebels simultaneously put up roadblocks in Barangay San Salvador in Prosperidad and Barangay Hamogaway in Bayugan City, causing a two-hour delay in the reinforcement units of the Army and the police forces.
Two passenger buses, with their tires busted by gunfire, were used as blockade in San Salvador, which is about 2 kilometers from the 401st Army Brigade camp.
An Army soldier was killed by a sniper bullet in Hamogaway during the pursuit operations that went up to Sibagat town near the boundary of the province and Butuan City.
Another Manobo leader, Renato Villaverde, was killed by the rebels inside his house in Bitan-agan, a mountain village that is just 2 km from this town.
The NPA guerrillas withdrew into the mountain, and Army troops, backed by rocket-firing helicopters, pursued them, military officials said.
The bursts of gunfire, which were heard at the town center, prompted principals to send schoolchildren home, while some business owners opted not to open their stores and banks in the town’s business center.
Classes in the elementary schools in Bayugan City were also suspended.
Senior Insp. Maria Gemma Corbita, information officer of the provincial police office, said they were still trying to find the owners of the pickup vehicles used by the rebels.
Prosperidad Mayor Alvin Magdamit told reporters that he had ordered the Municipal Social Welfare Office to immediately conduct stress debriefing for Egua’s neighbors.
Corbita said Egua had long been recognized as a staunch anticommunist advocate that he was allowed to have their (tribal warriors’) firearms licensed.
She, however, could not explain why the Manobo baganis were allowed to use high-powered firearms like AK-47 and M-16 Armalite rifles. Reports from Chris V. Panganiban, Inquirer Mindanao, and AP