Two territories considered as stronghold of the New People’s Army (NPA) have been taken over by the joint forces of the 17TH Infantry Battalion, 77th Infantry Battalion, Marine Battalion Landing Team 10 and the Philippine National Police (PNP) Rizal in Barangay Bural, Zinundungan Valley of Rizal Town in Cagayan Province.
The soldiers made the first move after receiving a tip from local residents on the presence of rebels in their area. Authorities had an encounter with around 20 NPA rebels led by a certain “Ka Simoy”. The crossfire lasted for 2 minutes before the insurgents fled off.
There were no reported fatalities from the government side but there are indications that the renegades sustained a good number of casualties, which prompted them to run off without their equipment and important documents.
Confiscated were explosives, rifle grenades, 3 boxes of detonating cords, 7 cellphones, different kinds of bullets and subversive materials. The hideout was also destroyed by the government troops.
The following day, another joint operation was launched by both soldiers and police in the same town and got hold of a bigger rebel bulwark.
According to MGen. Laurence Mina, commander of the Philippine Army 5TH Infantry Division, the discovery of the NPA hideouts and confiscation of equipment and explosives is a terrible blow on the Communist armed group. These could have been used against government forces and even innocent people during the local rebels’ anniversary this month. – Report from Oliver Baccay, Philippine Information Agency Region 2.
