An Army junior officer and another soldier were killed, and four others were injured in an ambush by communist militants in Quezon province, on Monday morning, two days after the arrest of two of their top leaders in Cebu province.
Senior Supt. Ronaldo Genaro Ylagan identified the fatalities as 1st Lt. Rey Jun Blancada and a Private First Class Malabanan. Blancada and his men were on their way to a medical mission when they were waylaid by New Peopleâs Army (NPA) members in Cogorin Ilaya village at 7 a.m. Reports indicate that the ensuing gun battle lasted for two hours. Four soldiers were injured and taken to the hospital.
On Saturday, Philippine security forces arrested Benito Tiamzon, head of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the NPA, and his wife, Wilma Austria, also a CPP central committee member and finance officer. Jose Ma. Sison, exiled CPP founder, promised that despite those arrests, the NPA âwill become even more determined to wage a peopleâs war.â
The NPA is set to celebrate its 45th anniversary on March 29.
Military camps have been placed on âred alertâ for NPA attacks following the arrest of the Tiamzons. A day after the red alert was declared, three separate encounters occurred on neighboring Samar Island. 
|
