Army officer killed in rebel ambush in Albay

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines— An Army officer was killed and another soldier was wounded in an ambush staged by suspected communist rebels while the soldiers were on a medical mission in the hinterlands of Daraga, Albay, Saturday morning.

Col. Arthur Ang, commanding officer of the Army’s 903 Infantry Brigade based in Daraga, identified the slain officer as 2nd Lt. George Tiago, 27, a native of Davao, and the wounded serviceman as Pfc Genesis Broso, both of the 2nd Infantry Battalion based in Barangay Tula-tula, Ligao City, Albay.

Ang said relatives of the slain soldier in Davao province have been informed.

Ang said Tiago was on  an Army truck with a group of soldiers and a doctor carrying medical supplies for their medical mission in Barangay Nabasan, a remote village in Daraga, when they were waylaid by about 15 New People’s Army rebels at about 9:20 a.m. Saturday.

Tiago and Broso were among a 10-man group of soldiers led by Maj. Narzan Obuyes who, together with a civilian doctor, had scheduled the medical mission at the request of villagers in Nabasan, Ang said.

The soldiers were able to jump out of the  truck and engaged the rebels in a 15-minute firefight that resulted in the the death of Tiago and the wounding of Broso,  Ang said.

The rebels fled immediately, he added.

Broso was rushed to the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital  for treatment and was now in stable condition, Ang said.

Ang said Army troopers were scouring nearby villages while additional soldiers were dispatched to pursue the rebels.