Troops clash with NPAs linked to kidnap-slay of mayor, son
Government soldiers encountered a group of New People’s Army (NPA) bandits believed responsible for the abduction and killing of Loreto Mayor Dario Otaza and his son, Daryl, the military said.
The encounter, which took place on the outskirts of Sitio Afga, Lower Olave, Buenavista, Agusan del Norte at around 6:45 a.m. Friday, October 23, left one Army trooper and at four NPA gunmen wounded.
Capt. Joe Patrick Martinez, spokesman, Army 4th Infantry Division (4ID), said troops from the 23rd Infantry Battalion proceeded to the area after they received information that the NPA rebels behind the brutal killing of Otaza and his son were hiding in the said community.
As they arrived in the area the soldiers were fired upon by the rebels despite the presence of civilians, according to Martinez.
The soldiers returned fire, prompting the bandits to scamper away, he added.
Martinez said residents in the area reported seeing the fleeing bandits carry four wounded comrades.
One soldier was also wounded during the first burst of indiscriminate fire from the NPA bandits, he also said.
Recovered from the encounter site are NPA backpacks containing personal belongings and subversive documents with high intelligence value, said the 4ID spokesman.
Col. Alexander Macario, commander of 401st Infantry Brigade, thanked the people in the area for providing the military timely information about the location of the rebels.
Meanwhile, cases of robbery and kidnapping with murder were filed before the Butuan City Prosecutor’s office against NPA leader Rene Catarata, and 18 others in connection with the killing of Otaza and his son.
Catarata is the Front Secretary of NPA Guerilla Front 34 under North Eastern Mindanao Regional Committee.
Martinez said Catarata was positively identified by witnesses as among the armed men who disguised as National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents and forcibly took the victims from their house in Barangay Baan, Butuan City at around 6:30 p.m. last Oct. 19.
“Identification was further supported by the cartographic sketch of the killers,” said Martinez.
Their victims’ bodies were found early morning Tuesday by elements of the Army’s 23rd Infantry Battalion in Barangay Bitan-agan, Butuan City.
The mayor, a former guerrilla turned peace advocate, and his son, Daryl, 27, were abducted from their house in Barangay Baan, Butuan City at around 6:30 p.m. Monday.