5 NPA rebels killed in S. Cotabato clash

KORONADAL CITY – Five New People’s Army (NPA) rebels were killed in an encounter with government troopers in Lake Sebu, South Cotabato yesterday.

Maj. Gen. Juvymax Uy of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division said Romeo Libron and his wife Merly, Rogelio Magsaya and two others identified only as Macoy and Megan died at the scene.

Libron was said to be the head of the NPA’s Southen Mindanao ordnance unit. His group was tagged in bombings of buses and construction equipment in South Cotabato.

Personnel of the Lake Sebu police and 5th Special Forces Battalion were supposed to serve arrest warrants for murder when the suspects allegedly opened fire. Brig. Gen. Roy Galido, 601st Brigade commander, said a carbine, an M16 rifle, a .45-caliber pistol, a 9 mm, two improvised explosive devices and bomb materials were recovered from the fatalities.

In Surigao del Norte, Pat. Jayson Custodio and civilian Rene Dagahoya were wounded in an ambush by suspected NPA rebels in Barangay Mayag in Sison town.

Meanwhile, hundreds of residents of Sitios Matin-aw, Motorpool and Karawayan in Barangay Rizal in Kananga, Leyte evacuated their homes on Tuesday to avoid being caught in a crossfire as communist rebels clashed with soldiers.