7 dead, including 5 NPAs, in Ilocos Sur encounter
STA. LUCIA, Ilocos Sur – Five members of the New Peoples’ Army (NPA), including an amazon and a team leader, and a soldier and a civilian died in an encounter between troops of the 702nd Infantry Brigade (702nd IB) and the insurgent group in Barangay Suagayan, Sta. Lucia, Ilocos Sur that started on Saturday afternoon and ended Sunday morning.
Five soldiers, two civilians, and an undetermined number of NPA rebels were also wounded in the encounter.
Army Major Rogelio Dumbrigue, commanding officer of the Civil-Military Operation (CMO) of the army’s 7th Infantry Division, identified two of the dead NPA rebels as Ka Maymay and Rolando Marvil, who was also known as Eugene, a team leader of the Kilusang Larangang Guerilya - Southern Ilocos Sur (KLG-SIS). The four other slain NPA rebels remained unidentified.
The bodies of the first two NPA rebels were recovered on Saturday, while the other three NPA cadavers were recovered on Sunday morning.
“As of press time, the army troops are presently conducting hot-pursuit operations to the escaping NPA rebels, who reportedly dragging their wounded comrades,” he said.
The release of the name of the killed soldier was withheld pending notification of his family, while the identification of the name of the civilian fatality, a reported resident of Candon City, Ilocos Sur, was still being withheld.
According to Dumbrigue, the slain civilian, who was a fruits and vegetables vendor, was reportedly shot by the escaping NPA rebels after he was mistaken for an intelligence operative of the army.
Dumbrigue said the five wounded soldiers were in stable condition in the hospital while the wounded two civilians, who were hit by stray bullets, were also rushed to the hospital for their treatment.
He said that the encounter started at about 2 p.m. on Saturday. Troops of the different units of the 702nd IB went on patrol upon receiving reports from concerned citizens of Barangay Suagayan, Sta. Lucia town about the presence of at least 15 fully-armed NPA rebels in their place.
He said that the fully-armed NPA rebels were reportedly members of the KLG SIS headed by a certain Ronnie Garvida, who was also known as Nero.
During the encounter, Dumbrigue said the soldiers overpowered the NPA rebels, prompting them to scamper from the encounter site, leaving behind their two dead comrades and dragging their wounded companions.
Dumbrigue said that operating troops recovered from encounter site four M-16 Armalite rifles, one M-14 rifle, one carbine rifle, one shotgun rifle, and two hand grenades.
Meanwhile, residents in Suagayan villages were all safe as they were secured by the LGU-Sta, Lucia and army and the police during the encounter.