Security forces chanced upon local armed terrorists extorting from residents in a remote village in Negros Occidental, sparking clashes, killing three cadres and wounding several others Thursday afternoon, military sources said Friday.
The fighting between government forces took place in Sitio Boyuron, Barangay Buenavista, Himamaylan City, which also resulted in the death of an army soldier and wounding of two others.
Military sources said the troops of the 62nd Infantry Battalion responded to reports that guerrillas from the New People’s Army were extorting from local residents at about 2 p.m. Thursday.
As the troops, on combat operations focusing on the presence of NPAs, inched closer to the area, gunbursts occurred, triggering a fierce fight that lasted for about 30 minutes.
The troops claimed there were three dead terrorists and several of their wounded comrades were being dragged away from the site of encounter.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the CPP-NPA had forced to recruit minors to fill up the decline in membership following the return of lowly cadres to the mainstream society.
“While we know for a fact the growing desperation of the CPP-NPA-NDF as their so-called “forces” and influence tremendously diminished, their deceptive recruitment of minors is nothing new since they have been doing this for decades,” Lorenzana said.
Lorenzana said the CPP-NPA had been using “legal front” organizations to advance people’s democratic rights and “they have freely operated in democratic spaces such as campuses and vulnerable communities to lure our citizens into joining sectoral organizations and eventually, the armed movement.”
He said, “That is why the defense and military establishments are very vocal against the deceptive recruitment of young Filipinos in our schools and other institutions, and strongly condemn the abhorrent practice of using children in armed conflict.”
Some of the NPA surrenderers have attested that they have been fighting the government since they were 14 to 15 years old, officials said.
“The communist terrorist CPP-NPA-NDF does not care for the lives of children since they will use anyone to forward their selfish agenda,” Lorenzana added.