ZAMBOANGA CITY, 17 October 2005 — Three soldiers and an undetermined number of communist rebels were killed in separate clashes in the southern and central Philippines on Saturday, officials said yesterday.
Troops clashed with the New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas late Saturday afternoon in Singalat village in Calamba, Misamis Occidental, killing a still undetermined number of insurgents, said Maj. Gen. Gabriel Habacon, commander of the Philippine Army’s 1st Infantry Division.
He said the soldiers pounced on rebels in their lair following a tip-off by villagers.
He said there were no casualties on the military side.
“We still cannot say how many insurgents were killed and wounded, but troops are pursuing those who escaped.
In Cebu province in central Philippines, rebels swooped down on an army detachment near the hinterland village of Sumon in the town of Tuburan late Saturday and killed three soldiers, police said.
Military spokesman Col. Tristan Kison said about 30 guerrillas mingled with a crowd in a public market in the village, then walked slowly toward an army detachment before opening fire, killing three of four soldiers.
They fled with eight assault rifles from the detachment and were being pursued by army troops, the spokesman said. Eight other soldiers left the detachment hours before the attack to hold regular security consultations with residents of another village, Kison said.
The place of attack was about 96 kilometers northwest of Cebu City, police said.
The military blamed NPA leader Roy Erecre for the attack. It said the soldiers were involved in humanitarian missions in Tuburan town.
Communist insurgents have vowed to intensify attacks on military and police targets after the government suspended safety and immunity guarantee for its negotiators following the collapse of the peace talks.
On Saturday, Philippine Army chief Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon said he has ordered all 9 infantry divisions in the country to intensify the campaign against communist rebels.
“We all should stay vigilant against threats of attacks by NPA terrorists,” said Esperon, accusing rebels of targeting civilians and unarmed soldiers.
NPA guerrillas last Monday raided a police station in Talacogon town near Agusan del Sur province in northern Mindanao and carted away automatic rifles after a firefight that left a policeman wounded.
They also killed five soldiers and three civilians in an ambush in Sapang Dalaga town in Misamis Occidental province earlier this month.
The spate of attacks coincided with the government suspension of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantee (JASIG) after the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the its political arm the National Democratic Front (NDF) refused to return from the peace negotiations.
With the suspension of immunity guarantee, rebel negotiators now are at risk of being arrested on charges ranging from rebellion and other crimes.
The CPP and the NDF are demanding that Manila ask the United States and the European Union to strike them off from their lists of foreign terror organizations. The US and the EU blacklisted the CPP, NDF and the NPA on Manila’s prodding, and froze its assets abroad.
Peace negotiations between the government and the rebel group have been suspended since August last year, following the NDF pullout due to their continued inclusion in the terror lists.
Security officials have previously asked the government not to negotiate with the rebels until they signed a cease-fire agreement. They said the rebels have used the peace talks to recruit and consolidate their forces and continue attacking government targets despite the negotiations.
