Soldiers capture NPA rebel in Zamboanga del Sur firefight

PAGADIAN CITY – Soldiers captured a New People’s Army (NPA) rebel during a clash in Midsalip, Zamboanga del Sur on Saturday, the military said.

Maj. Ronald Suscano, the spokesperson of the 1st Infantry Division, identified the captured rebel as Jerry Macabinta.

Suscano said soldiers from the 53rd Infantry Battalion were conducting a combat patrol in Sitio Pisio in Barangay Balonai in Midsalip when they clashed with members of the Section Committee Kara of the NPA in Western Mindanao around 11 a.m.

No casualty on the government side was reported, he said.

Suscano said the rebels fled, but soldiers pursued them and captured Macabinta, seizing from him a .4- caliber pistol.

On Friday, an NPA rebel was killed during a firefight with soldiers from the 73rdInfantry Battalion in Barangay Culaman in Jose Abad Santos, Davao Occidental.

Lt. Col. Marion Angcao, the 73rd IB commander, said his men were responding to a report on the presence of armed men in the said village when the clash took place.

The slain rebel remained unidentified.

Angcao said his men also recovered an M653 rifle, two backpacks, an Icom radio, a cellular phone and some documents in the aftermath of the firefight.

He said the military believed that the NPA also suffered injuries during the firefight. /atm