Three soldiers were killed and two others were wounded following a clash with members of the New People's Army (NPA) in Toboso, Negros Occidental early Saturday morning. Second Lieutenant Revekka Roperos, 303rd Infantry Brigade public affairs office chief, said the encounter took place in Sitio Carbon, Barangay San Isidro around 6:45 a.m. Saturday, May 14. The fatalities were identified as Private First Class (Pfc.) Reggie Taleon, Pfc. Teddie Alcallaga, and Pfc. Ramel Perasol, who are all members of the 62nd Infantry Battalion. Roperos said Corporal Rosevil Villacampa and Pfc. Jethro Niervo were also wounded during the firefight. The troopers were checking reports on the presence of armed men who were extorting food from residents of San Isidro village, when they encountered about 10 NPA rebels. A 15-minute firefight ensued, killing three soldiers and wounding two others. It was not immediately known if there were also casualties among the rebels. 3 troopers killed, 2 hurt in Negros Occidental clash
NPA Guerrillas Kill 3 Soldiers in Negros – NEGROS, Philippines – The military has reported that New People’s Army rebels have killed three Philippine soldiers on the island of Negros Sunday. The clash is the first reported since a newly-elected president has offered to once again talk peace among the people. The soldiers were stationed on the central island of Negros over the weekend when NPA guerrillas were caught extorting money from local villages when the clash began. The military said that at least ten rebels were in the rebel group – the group took out three Filipino soldiers, and wounded two others. The recent elections hoped to bring peace to NPA communist rebels, President-elect Rodrigo Duterte said he would be willing to release some jail communist rebels in an effort to reopen peace talks with the group. The violence comes less than a week after elections. President Benigno Aquino III broke off talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines years ago after they demanded the releases of their comrades. The NPA hopes to gain concessions with the incoming president as he has often appeased their demands, giving into the pressure to find peace. However, recent NPA attacks, kidnappings and murders in and around Davao City have proven once again that the communist rebels are not going away anytime soon. Duterte has agreed to meet with Jose Maria Sison, the communist party leader since its inception in 1968. Sison took refuge in the Netherlands where he hides out to this day. Sison is asking Duterte for a meeting – the meeting is to discuss Sison’s return to the Philippines, worry many of what will come if he should take command of the very party he started. Officials have said that the NPA has killed over 30,000 people since its inception – several factions of the NPA run rampant throughout the Philippines – however the return of Sison may brings those factions together, creating a militia force that would be difficult to stop.
Pretty slippery to define where someone is NPA or just a bandit/criminal claiming to be NPA. I'm not stealing all your stuff, I'm liberating it!
Most bandits aren't going to have access assault rifles and be actively attacking military targets. Bandits and thieves go for much easier targets.
Except that isn't what happened. The supposed NPA were extorting food from a town and the army showed up. If one doesn't want to go to prison, what would you do? Wrye, whether you want one or not you should still know that weapons are always easy to come by. In a period of about 4 months I had a jail guard ask me if I wanted to hold his pistol. I had another person want to sell me a .38 special revolver and another person want to sell me a Tech 9 sub-machinegun with silencer. The submachine was bargain priced because someone told him there was something wrong with the silencer, there was nothing wrong with the silencer, it just had a brand new end wipe so the hole looked rather small. Outside the US and a few other countries, most firearms are stolen from the government, security firms and private security, when you steal guns from the government, what are you likely to get?
