3 SOLDIERS KILLED, 4 HURT IN NPA AMBUSH IN IFUGAO

By:
Vency D. Bulayungan / PIA-Ifugao
Posted: 06-Mar-2011 / 4 years 33 weeks ago

ASIPULO, Ifugao , - Three Philippine Army soldiers were killed while four others were wounded Saturday
during an encounter between government troops and a group of New People's Army guerillas in a remote
barangay here.

Col. Miguel Puyao, Civil Military Operations Officer of the Armys 5th Infantry Division said the troops led
by 2nd Lieutenant Mark Anthony Bernardino were on a humanitarian mission when they were attacked at
around

10:35

a.m.

in

Barangay

Cauayan

here.

They were on the way to the barangay to conduct humanitarian mission. Along the way, they encountered
undetermined number of local terrorists. After five minutes of fighting, three of our soldiers died and four
were

wounded,"

said

Puyao.

He said the soldiers were carrying hammers, saws, nails to render assistance to those whose houses were
destroyed"

by

last

year's

Provincial Police Director, PSSupt Laurence Mombael

typhoon

Juan.

said the bodies of Corporal Normandy Maravilla,

Private Norie Cahena, and Private Wendell Clemente were airlifted and brought to a funeral parlor in Isabela
province.
Injured were Private First Class John Paul Gorospe, Alfredo Liclican, Jonel Canabang, and Frank Liw-agan,
Mombael, quoting witnesses, said the ambush was swiftly done in
afterwhich

the

rebels

scampered

just
to

five-minute burst of gunfire

different

paths.

Puyao said the rebels, led by one Casimiro Binayan, should have spared the soldiers, noting that they were
on

humanitarian

mission.

These kind of people do not discriminate their targets. What is important to them is kill people," he said of
the

rebels.

Puyao said soldiers were not able to establish if there were casualties on the rebel side. They are still
scouring

the

area,

our

soldiers

Asipulo chief of police Inspector Ernesto Bekesan said

are

on

pursuit

operation."

that the absence of a cell site in said place made

monitoring of the situation difficult thus even the casualties on the NPA side cannot be determined right
away.

Bekesan also disclosed that all PNP stations were on red alert and PNP checkpoints were reinforced in the
adjoining municipalities of Lamut and Kiangan

Asipulo Mayor Eladio Bang-ud said the NPAs came from Nueva Vizcaya and preferred to stay in barangay
Cauyan because it is a remote and forested place and is a favorite hiding place of the underground
movement. The barangay near the boundary between Ifugao and Nueva Vizcaya has only more than 60
households.

The encounter took place a few days after the government and the communists observed a one-week
ceasefire, from Feb. 15 to 21, while the formal peace negotiations were ongoing in Oslo, Norway. (PIA-CAR,
Ifugao)