6 cops, soldier hurt in clash

SIX policemen and a soldier were wounded in a clash with members of the New People’s Army (NPA) in two villages in Davao City.

Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) public information officer Captain Alberto Caber, in a phone interview with Sun.Star Davao yesterday, said the encounter took place in the villages of Baracatan and Catigan in Toril District around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

In a separate interview, Police Regional Office (PRO) 11 spokesperson C/Inspector Jed Clamor, identified the six wounded policemen as Inspector Ruel Manga, Inspector Bernido Villamor, PO3 James Bangayan, PO3 Arthur Saavedra, PO1 Vincent Capalvas, and PO1 John Ambog, all belonging to the Special

Action Force. The wounded soldier was identified as Private First Class (Pfc.) Cesar Bangkil, a member of the Philippine Army’s 84th Infantry Battalion.

Clamor said the six wounded men are safe, adding that four of them were undergoing treatment at Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) while the t wo others are still at Davao Adventist Hospital. The soldier is now at Camp Panacan Hospital.

Initial investigation of the Toril Police Station revealed that two sections of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) led by Inspector Ruel Manga, who is among the wounded men, were in a combat operation at Mt. Talomo when the rebels attacked them.

Caber said troops of the 84th Infantry Battalion based in Calinan District immediately provided support to the policemen, were the government armed forces encountered some 30 members of the Guerilla Front 54, Sub-Regional Command of the NPA.

“Actually, the troops were also in the area conducting a security patrol for the protection of the civilians and community. This after we received information that the rebels were in the area to conduct extortion activities. Thank God at walang na damay na sibilyan,” Caber said.

Eastmincom commander Lt. General Ricardo Rainier Cruz once again ordered all their unit commanders to remain alert and continue the operations against the rebels and any other threat groups. He also told the 84th Infantry Battalion to coordinate with the policemen for joint pursuit operation against Front 54.

PRO regional director Chief Supt. Wendy Rosario also ordered his men to intensify their intelligence monitoring and tighten their security measures in the area to prevent a similar incident, Clamor said. He added that there is nothing to be alarmed.

However, Isabel Fermiza, spokesperson for the NPA’s Mt. Apo Sub-Regional Command, claimed that the guerillas killed six armed forces and wounded six others on their clash with the authorities, which Caber and Clamor vehemently denied.

Fermiza also said that guerillas seized an automatic rifle, grenade launcher, four military packs and vests, two ammunition links for K3 machine gun and a GPS.

“The NPA’s successful tactical offensive in Toril disproved hallucinations of the PA 10th Infantry Division commander Major General Ariel Bernardo, who boasted last week that the NPA forces are thinning out, losing ground, and limited to seven towns in Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley,” Fermiza said.

Fermiza added that the successful attack also disproved what the troops claimed last year that their Peace and Development Outreach Program (PDOP) made headways in Toril and the contiguous Sta. Cruz town in Davao del Sur as being free from the NPA. ICT