Abandoned rebel hideout found

By Freddie Lazaro

NARVACAN, Ilocos Sur — Joint elements from the Army’s 50th Infantry Battalion and the 53rd Intelligence Company recovered a high-powered rifle and subversive documents when they raided a suspected lair of the communist New People’s Army in the forested area of Barangay Lucbuban, Salcedo, Ilocos Sur.

Col. Eduardo Collado, head of the Joint Civil Military Operation Task Force of the ongoing humanitarian component of the RP-US Balikatan 2010, said the raiders recovered an M-16 rifle with defaced serial number in a makeshift hut believed to have been hastily abandoned when the rebels sensed the soldiers’ arrival.

“We received reports from our civilian assets in the area that these NPA rebels are planning to conduct harassment and sabotage against the Filipino and American soldiers who are rendering humanitarian mission in the municipality of Salcedo as part of the ongoing RP-US Balikatan 2010 in the province,” he said.

He said troops are in hot pursuit of the rebels to secure the Filipino and American servicemen who are conducting medical and engineering action programs as part of the annual joint military exercise.

The humanitarian programs of the 2010 RP-US Balikatan Exercise were formally started last February 14 in Barangays Sinait and Salcedo, both in Ilocos Sur.