THE Pampanga Police Provincial Office (PPPO) Monday said the three rebels killed in Barangay San Agustin, Sta. Ana belonged to a group believed to be planning the liquidation of a mayoral candidate in Sta. Ana.
In a press statement, the PPO said the killed cadres were part of a group of 23 armed members of the Komiteng Seksiyon Platoon of the Southeastern Pampanga Guerilla Front Committee-Pampanga Provincial Party Committee. The group, PPPO director Rodolfo Mendoza, Jr. said, has jurisdiction over two armed propaganda units operating in the towns of Arayat, Mexico and Sta. Ana under the command of a certain "Ka Leony."
The group, Mendoza added, may have been outlining the killing of the mayoral candidate - whose name is withheld for security reasons - who reportedly refused to pay permits-to-campaign (PTC) fees.
PTC fees are required by the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) from candidates running for elective posts in the upcoming electoral exercises before allowing them to campaign in areas that the rebel group considers as "territories."
The presence of the group in the area was purportedly relayed to the PPPO by concerned barangays tanods who are part of the established Barangay Information Network System.
At 1:15 p.m. Sunday, elements of the PPO composed of the Provincial Special Reaction Unit and the 310th Provincial Mobile Group, Regional Mobile Group 3, and the 69th Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army led by Supt. Abner Dimabuyu engaged the rebels in a gunfight that led to the neutralization of the three rebels.
The police also seized from the site two M16 rifles, one M14 rifle, two flares, one hand grenade, eight magazine for M16, four M14 magazine, one bottle Piltrex anti-bacterial capsule, one stethoscope and three backpacks containing subversive documents and personal belongings.
As of Monday afternoon, Sta. Ana municipal police director Narvin Mangune said one of the rebels was identified as Romano Suba Carlos, 22, of Nueva Victoria, Mexico, while the two other fatalities are yet to be identified.
Mangune said military operatives are still monitoring the area for any further operation of the rebel group.
ALICIA, Bohol - As the campaign heats up, at least four alleged members of the New People’s Army (NPA) on Wednesday evening shot the gas tank and smashed the windshields of a car of an official in this town, sowing terror among the residents in barangay Untaga after firing several shots while a political rally was going on.
The incident came less than a month after the two separate bloody encounters in the hinterland towns of Catigbian and Batuan between government troops and the rebels that killed at least five rebels and one soldier.
In a check in a repair shop, the windshield and glasses of the rear and four doors of the car were shattered into pieces and the gasoline tank was shot, indicating a try to blow up the white GLI Toyota Corolla service car with plate number TTB 557.
Vice-Mayor Verginio Madriñan, who is running for reelection unopposed, said in an interview that he could not believe that the rebels did it to him on April 14, around 10:30 p.m. while he was delivering his campaign speech.
He, however, confirmed that the rebels have been asking from him to pay the permit-to-campaign (PTC) fee, which he refused. He said he never gives in to this kind of “extortion” ever since he ran for the same post, even when he had an opponent.
Madriñan said he thought they were being fired at while onstage. Witnesses said that the four armed men left the place shouting they are NPAs. R. Obedencio