BANGUED, Abra Two army soldiers were killed and two more were injured in the latest attack by New Peoples Army (NPA) guerrillas in the Cordillera region, military and police officials said on Saturday.
Major General Melchor Dilodilo, commander of the Philippine Armys 5th Infantry Division, quoted field reports as saying he soldiers were on a community-related mission in barangay Duldulao of Malibcong town in Abra when they were attacked by communist rebels at about 1:30 pm. Friday..
Slain were Privates First Class Jones Andrade and Aurelio Begtang Jr.,both of the Bravo Company" of the 41st Infantry Battalion.
Second Lieutenant Junmar Tutoy and Corporal Oscar Cagurangan were also wounded during the attack..
Lt. Eduard Sia-ed, spokesman of the battalion, said the troopers the led by 2nd Lt. Regie Go were met by a heavy volume of gunfire from a group of rebels in superior strength, immediately wounding the four soldiers.
Sia-ed claimed that one of the wounded, Private First Class Andrade got separated from his group while seeking cover after getting wounded. His dead body was later recovered with gunshot wounds that indicate that Pfc. Andrade was shot by the rebels at close range," Sia-ed said.
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Lt. Col. Ignacio Madriaga, the battalion commander, said in a report that local officials and health workers in Malibcong aided the wounded soldiers and evacuated them to Bangued, the capital town of Abra province.
Cordillera police intelligence and investigation chief Supt. Jesus Cambay acknowledged that there was an increased rebel activity in various areas in the region, which includes the city of Baguio and the provinces of Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao,Kalinga and Mountain Province.
Last Wednesday, three army soldiers were also killed in an NPA ambush in Pinukpuk town of Kalinga. The attack followed the destruction of a transmission tower of Globe Telecoms in barangay Pakawit of Pinukpuk on Sunday.
Police said rebels also tried but failed to overrun a government militias detachment in Sallapadan town in Abra, last month.
Police, however, said the increased attacks do not mean the NPAs are getting stronger.
"It is not that they have gained more strength," said Cordillera police intelligence and investigation chief Supt. Jesus Cambay, "but their terror activities are increasing."
Two months ago, intelligence agents have also monitored an unusual rebel sightings along the boundary of Benguet and Ifugao, prompting government security forces to fortify possible targets like the Lepanto Mining giant in Mankayan town, Benguet, a long-time target of the rebels because of allegedly polluting Cordillera and Ilocos rivers for long because of its mining activities since the 1930s.
Major Rosendo Armas, spokesman of the militarys Northern Luzon Command, said the number of communist rebels in the northern Philippines have actually dwindled and the rebels are trying to to show they are still there".
Their attacks do not show at all their strength," Armas added, because they are targeting non-combatant (like those killed in Pinukpuk town who were on an outreach mission to the communities)." - GMANews.TV