LUCENA CITY – Four Army men were wounded when suspected New People’s Army rebels ambushed a group of soldiers from the 16th Infantry Battalion aboard a military truck traveling along the highway in Barangay Llavac, Real town in Quezon province on Monday, the spokesperson of the Army’s Southern Luzon Command said in a report.
Army Capt. Leah Santiago said that at about 2 p.m., an undetermined number of NPA rebels fired at the soldiers while on the way to position themselves as a blocking force to the escaping guerrillas that earlier attacked the town hall in the island town of Panukulan.
A few minutes later, the reinforcement team from the same battalion chanced upon another group of NPA rebels in Barangay Lubayat also in Real.
The firefight was still ongoing as of press time, Santiago said over the phone.
Capt. Peter Garceniego Jr., 16th IB spokesperson, said the four soldiers only suffered minor wounds and were being treated in a hospital in the area.
“The harassment being waged by terrorist communists was only meant to divert attention from our ongoing operations,” he said over the phone.
He claimed that aside from acting as a blocking force to the Panukulan raiders, the Army soldiers were also part of the government forces that were engaged in a major operation against NPA rebels in northern Quezon.
Earlier that day, the NPA rebels attacked the Panukulan town hall and took at least nine firearms from the police station.
A Panukulan policeman said more than 30 guerrillas launched the attack while the local government employees were reciting a prayer during the flag-raising ceremony held at the plaza fronting the town hall.
The raiders seized eight short firearms, one long firearm and several rounds of ammunitions, said the policeman who requested anonymity as he was not authorized to talk about the incident.
“The attack was over in about 10 to 15 minutes. We were not able to put up a fight for fear that many civilians might be caught in the crossfire. There were also many students around because the town hall is near the school,” said the lawman.
The informant said the NPA rebels also partially burned the generator set of a Globe relay station located in the mountainous area of the place.
He said the leader of the NPAs even made a short speech before the assembly of government employees and also talked to Panukulan Mayor Rogel Portos.
“The speech was interrupted several times by shouts of ‘Mabuhay ang NPA’ coming from the rest of the rebels,” said the policeman.
He said the NPA rebels escaped aboard several motorized boats and headed toward the town of General Nakar at the foot of Sierra Madre.
Santiago said at least four Air Force helicopters had been dispatched to track down the escaping rebels.
“This attack was an act of desperation of the terrorists to negate the success of military forces in our counterinsurgency. They want to impress to the public that they are still a force to reckon with despite their losses in the battlefield and declining support from the masses,” she said.
On Friday night, two more cell sites of Globe Telecom were attacked by suspected NPA rebels in Sorsogon province.
One of the cell sites was in Barangay Aguada Norte, a kilometer away from the Magallanes town poblacion, while the other site is located in Barangay Sogoy, Castilla town.
The two incidents were the eighth and ninth in a series of harassments on Globe cell sites in the Bicol region since July 31.
