A New People’s Army fighter tagged as one of the people who torched private construction equipment in Quezon province was killed in an encounter in Laguna while an alleged NPA extortionist was arrested by police and military personnel in Butuan City on Thursday.
Maj. Gen. Rhoderick Parayno, commander of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, said the still unidentified rebel was killed in an encounter with troops of the 1st Infantry Battalion in Sitio Pinamintian, San Buenaventura village in Luisiana, Laguna, on Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, an official said the efforts of the New People’s Army to recruit minors is a gross violation of the UNICEF Convention on the Rights of Children.
“It is a gross violation of the provisions of UNICEF’s Convention on the Rights of Children, which specifically states that children below the age of 18 must be accorded their basic rights to include the right from exploitation,” Armed Forces of the Philippines public affairs office chief Noel Detoyato said in a text message to the Philippine News Agency when sought for a comment.
Parayno said the slain terrorist was among the 15 rebels who last week burned three backhoes and one bulldozer being used in the road widening construction at the Kaliwa Dam project by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System owned by Northern Builder Corp. in Magsaysay village in Infanta, Quezon.
Brig. Gen. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos, head of the 202nd Brigade, said the communists fled toward the boundary of Quezon and Laguna to escape the pursuing troops from the 80th Infantry Battalion and the dragnet put up by the 1st IB to intercept them.
However, the rebels were eventually intercepted by troops in Kalangay village in Lucban, Quezon, sparking a 15-minute firefight that left one rebel dead while the rest scampered in different directions, dragging their wounded comrades.
The NPA burning was condemned the officials of Infanta and General Nakar towns in Quezon.
Mayor Filipina Grace America of Infanta was quoted as saying the terror act perpetrated by the NPA was not the proper way to address the issues surrounding the project.
Mayor Eliseo Ruzon of General Nakar viewed the act by the NPA as a hindrance to the development in his town and in Infanta, noting that the incident would lead to their constituents losing their jobs needed to support their families.
“We will show the NPAs that their anti-people activities will not pass unpunished. They have lost the trust and support of the people,” Parayno said.
In Butuan City, a communist extortionist preying on farmers in Northern Mindanao was arrested by police and military operatives in Barangay Nongnong on Wednesday morning. With PNA