NPA ambush kills 7 soldiers
By Jocelyn Uy
Philippine Daily Inquirer – www.inquirer.net
Saturday, 10 July 2010
MANILA, Philippines—Communist guerrillas killed seven soldiers in an ambush in Mountain Province Friday, military officials said.
The attack was the deadliest known sortie launched by the 5,000-member New People’s Army (NPA) since President Aquino took office on June 30.
The soldiers onboard a military truck were traversing between the villages of Talubin and Samuki in Bontoc town at about 11:50 a.m. yesterday when a still undetermined number of NPA fighters staged the attack, said Army spokesperson Maj. Ronaldo Alcudia in a text message to the Inquirer.
Alcudia said the soldiers of the 54th Infantry Battalion were tasked to secure a village for a medical mission set for today by the Armed Forces.
“Reinforcing troops are still on pursuit operations against the attackers,” he said.
Col. Eliseo Posadas, the Army’s 501st Brigade commander, said among those killed was a junior officer, a company commander. Police identified the officer as First Lt. Lito Punio.
“The assailants also carted away the firearms of our soldiers killed in the ambush,” Posadas told reporters.
Military to file charges vs. rebels behind killing of govt soldiers
By Larry Madarang
The Manila Times – www.manilatimes.net
Monday, 12 July 2010
Baguio City: The Philippine Army announced over the weekend that it is now set to file formal charges in court against suspected members of the New People’s Army allegedly responsible for the killing of seven army soldiers late last week. “We will be filing charges against the perpetrators in court and with the Commission on Human Rights,” said Army Col. Eliseo Posadas, commander of the 501st Brigade in a text message to The Manila Times.
“[The suspects] even shot those who were already wounded,” Posadas noted.
Suspected the rebel group guerillas led by a certain Artus Talastas reportedly ambushed soldiers who were escorting residents attending a medical mission set on July 10 in the town proper.
The troops belonged to the 52nd Division Reconnaissance Company based in Barangay Talubin in Bontoc town.
Talastas, Posadas said, used to be a student activist from the Baguio Colleges Foundation (now University of Cordilleras).
The Army colonel also reported that the army is now conducting pursuit operations.
“There will be no let up and we ensure that. . .the terroristic act shall not be left unpunished,” he stressed.
Posadas, meanwhile, reported that they have suspended the conduct of the cited medical and dental mission on account of volatile security conditions in the area.
In an earlier report to the Times, Chief Insp. Marcial Fa-ed, Bontoc Municipal Police Station chief, indentified the fatalities as First Lt. Lito Punio, Sgt. Melchor Castro, Cpl. Cornelio Balmez, Private First Class Camilo Topinio, Antoni Bunagan, Windez Gazingan and James Tio-an.
According to Tribal elders in the area, the capital town of Bontoc was declared a white area or a peace zone and that there should be no armed conflict between the military and the rebel group.
Police say slain teacher not a militant
By Tonette Orejas
Philippine Daily Inquirer – www.inquirer.net
Friday, 16 July 2010
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Police on Thursday disputed claims that a teacher killed on July 12 in Bataan was a member of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) and a victim of extrajudicial killings.
Jessie Ferrer, assistant school division superintendent of the Department of Education in Balanga City, and Bernadette Paraiso, principal of the Tenejero Elementary School, had certified that the victim, Josephine Estacio, was not a member of the militant activist teachers’ organization, according to Senior Supt. Arnold Gunnacao, Bataan police chief.
He said the officials issued the certification on July 13 in response to claims by the ACT that Estacio was its member.
Estacio, 40, a Grade 1 teacher, was alighting from a tricycle when two men in a motorcycle shot and killed her.
The attack happened at the gate of the school and when students barely finished the flag-raising ceremony.
The suspects covered their faces with bonnets, witnesses said.
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