2 more cops slain by NPA

TWO MORE police officers have lost their lives in as many weeks in an ambush by communist New People’s Army rebels, police said on Saturday.

The attack occurred on Thursday evening in Candoni, Negros Occidental. The two officers were identified as PO3 Joe Peralta and PO1 Henry Pacheco.

“The two fallen agents of the law had just performed a routine police assistance function to a stabbing victim when they themselves were treacherously attacked,” said Chief Supt. Wilben Mayor, in a statement to the media late Friday.

“They will be accorded appropriate funeral honors befitting their heroism and service,” Mayor added.

The PNP said the Negros police force and the military had launched a pursuit of the rebels.

“The perpetrators of this action will be hunted down and will be made to pay for their crime,” Mayor said.

The Negros Occidental attack occurred less than a week after an ambush by the NPA on Feb. 16 in Baggao, Cagayan, in which six policemen died when the rebels used grenade launchers against them.