CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro – Troops recovered a New People’s Army arms cache following an encounter in Barangay Villa Pag-asa, Bansud, Oriental Mindoro on Tuesday afternoon.
TROOPS recover NPA paraphernalia and weapons following an encounter in Sitio Gitgit, Barangay Villa Pag-asa, Bansud, Oriental Mindoro on Tuesday. (2nd Infantry Jungle Fighter Division FB)
Brig. Gen. Randolph G. Cabangbang, commander of the Army 203rd Brigade, said soldiers from the 76th Infantry (Victrix) Battalion were conducting a security operation in Sitio Gitgit when they engaged a group of 15 NPA rebels.
The communist rebels fled after a 20-minute gunfight, leaving behind an M16 rifle, M16 rifle upper receiver, three hand grenades, a detonator switch, three magazines for M16 rifle, and 30 bullets. No casualties were recorded among government troopers.
Cabangbang said the NPA rebels belong to the Ignacio Claveria Magadia Command and Main Regional Guerilla Unit, Sub-Regional Military Area 4D, Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee that operate in the hinterlands of southern Mindoro provinces.
He said troops, backed by the police and the local government unit, are now conducting humanitarian and debriefing among residents in the area.
Major Gen. Cerilo Balaoro Jr., commander of the 2nd Infantry (Jungle Fighter) Division based in Camp Capinpin, Tanay, Rizal, called on the remaining NPA in Mindoro to return to the fold of the law and avail of the government’s amnesty offer under the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP).