ECHAGUE, Isabela – Authorities are still
trying to identity three foreigners
reportedly seen with New People’s Army rebels in the Nov. 17 clash with
government troops in a remote village here
which left seven soldiers and five guerrillas dead.
Sources said civilians saw two Caucasians
tagging along with some 30 rebels during the five-hour running gun battle with
elements of the Army’s 502nd Infantry Brigade in Mabbayad village.
On Tuesday, source
said the three foreigners reportedly seen with communist rebels during the
clash were Dutch students.
The Dutch women were
said to be conducting a study on the crocodile conservation efforts of the
Isabela-based Mabuwaya Foundation.
The source said one of
the foreigners was among the 12 fatalities in the five-hour encounter between
the rebels and members of the Reconnaissance Company of the Army’s 502nd
Infantry Brigade (IB) in Echague’s Mabbayad village.
Mabuwaya, which is
affiliated with the World Wildlife Fund, is a non-government group working for
the conservation of the Philippine crocodiles.
The foundation has a
crocodile breeding center in San Mariano town, and a crocodile sanctuary in the
wilds of the San Mariano-Divilacan area.
But
Marites Gatan-Balabas, deputy director of the Mabuwaya Foundation, denied having
foreigners in their group. “Aside from that, our students are in
Maconacon and Divilacan (Isabela coastal towns),” she said.
“We receive reports
about the presence of foreigners tagging along with the rebels during the
encounter. But we could not ascertain if they were indeed with the lawless
group or just happened to be there,” Col. Loreto Magundayao, spokesman
for the Gamu, Isabela-based Army’s 5th Infantry Division, which has
jurisdiction over the 502nd IB, said.
“Maybe they were there
not necessarily with the lawless group. Maybe they just happened to be there
when the encounter occurred,” said Magundayao.
The military,
according to reports, is still investigating this, especially since one of the
foreigners was said to be among the fatalities in the clash, which erupted at
around 4:30 a.m. at the boundary of Echague and San Mariano towns.
The seven soldiers
slain in the encounter were identified as 2Lt. Jimnah Torrepalma, Sgt. Eduardo
Arguero, Cpl. Jondy Larebersole, and Pfcs. Joemar Miguel, Jerold Mina, Albert
Lagua, and Raul Alunday.
Col. Loreto
Magundayao, chief of the 5th Infantry Division’s civil-military operations
battalion, said six of the soldiers were killed on the spot while Alunday died
while being treated at a military hospital
.
Seven other soldiers,
among them Pfc. Robert Samut, are still undergoing treatment for gunshot
wounds.
All of them belong to
the 502nd Infantry Brigade’s Reconnaissance Company based in Isabela’s Jones
town, which is under the jurisdiction of the 5th ID.
According to reports,
at least five NPA rebels were killed and at least eight others were wounded in
the encounter.
The Army said the
figures were based on field reports, as no bodies of the slain guerrillas were
recovered.
“The encounter took
place while our troops were conducting security operations to ensure the safe
implementation of all impending national government projects in the area. They
were fired upon by the lawless group,” Magundayao said.
Government forces
earlier had engaged in pre-dawn skirmishes with the insurgents along the
foothills of the Sierra Madre ranges.
The rebels, believed
to belong to the NPA’s Benito Tesorio Command based here, alleged that they
seized three machine guns, four M-16 Armalite rifles, and an M-16 baby Armalite
from the government side.
The encounter was the
worst setback for the Army in Northern Luzon since last April’s ambush-slay by
NPA guerrillas of 11 members of the 85th Infantry Battalion in Tinoc, Ifugao. A
female civilian was also slain in the attack.
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