Two cops dead, 3 hurt in Mt Prov NPA firefights

BONTOC, Mountain Province –  Another policeman was wounded when New People’s Army guerrillas ambushed a police patrol here Wednesday afternoon in addition to two killed and two other wounded in another clash March 29 at  border of adjacent Sagada town wherein two cops were killed while two others were wounded.

Senior Supt. Oliver Emodias, provincial police director, said PO1 Emmanuel Dagsan, hurt in Wednesday’s clash, is now being treated at Bontoc General Hospital.

The latest encounter happened in Sitio Bantonil, Barangay Dalican, Bontoc, adjacent to border of Barangay Aguid, Sagada where earlier clash happened.

This, as Sagada officials said clashes between government forces and NPA rebels has driven away tourists of the rustic town even as police and military soldiers are now scouring mountains here in search of NPA guerillas who killed the two lawmen and wounded two others in two rebel camps in Dalican.   

Sources said NPA rebels were marking their 45^th anniversary on March 29 when the firefight happened around 3:30 p.m.

Supt. Davy Limmong, regional police information chief said around that time, “joint elements of the RPSB, Mountain Province Provincial Public Safety Battalion and the army’s 54^th Infantry Battalion were conducting tactical operation at the vicinity of Bandong Hill in Dalican where they found two NPA camps when fired upon by undetermined number of armed groups allegedly NPA members.”

Limmong identified the slain cops as Police Officers 1 Jefferson Sari of the RPSB and Marcelo A. Kilasen of MPPSC. (An NPA statement meanwhile said PO1 Jefferson Sari’s family name was Susangi.)

Wounded were Romeo Fakat Jr.  of PPSC and Benito Magan of RPSB, both PO1 who were taken to the Bontoc General Hospital for treatment.

According to Limmong, right after the firefight, police from provincial headquarters, PPSC and Sagada coordinated with residents of Dalican and Aguid so the dead and wounded cops could be taken out of the area.

This, while additional troops were reportedly alerted for deployment to the area.

“The incident was a result of our tactical operation in the area that started since March 28 which resulted to our personnel overrunning the two NPA camps,” Limmong said.

This, as Magno Udyaw, spokesperson of the NPA’s Leonardo Pacsi Command said LPC-NPA “Government troops started combat operations evening of March 23 in the boundary of Besao and Sagada. Their columns manuevered towards Bandong Hill where they were fiercely met by the NPA fighters in a surprise attack at around 3:30 pm of March 29.” ^.

“What happened to the four casualties should be a lesson to all Igorot kakailians not to allow themselves to be used by the ruling class to oppress their own kin in exchange for meager amount and at the cost of allowing the plunder of our land and natural resources.”  

He also urged local government executives “to dissuade the local police force under their command from joining counter- insurgency intelligence and combat operations.”

Meanwhile, Robert Pangod, executive assistant to Sagada town Mayor Eduardo Latawan, said the two rebel camps were reportedly attacked by policemen aided by the military but NPA guerillas and reportedly some supporters fired back.

The location of the gunfight was reportedly named after Lt. Jose Bandong Jr., who died in the area on April 10, 1992 while leading government troopers in a gunfight with communist rebels.

The area is within the territorial jurisdiction of Bontoc, Mt. Province’s capital town and not Sagada, Pangod said, adding the location of  the June 29 firefight was a three-hour walk from Sagadapoblacion.

He said Sagada is trying its best to maintain the town as a “peace zone”, a declaration since 1987, where both the military and the NPA are reportedly barred.

In September last year, policemen aided by Philippine Army troopers also allegedly overran a huge rebel camp in remote barangay Aguid, also in Sagada.

The camp which was initially spotted by deep reconnaissance policemen was reportedly well-equipped and was used by the rebels as their training ground for staging a massive attack against government forces deployed in the province for peacekeeping duties.

During the initial assault, two policemen --- Police Officers 1 Primo Marcelo and Romel Sagot -- were wounded when they were met with heavy gunfire by communist rebels.

"Despite the realities,  we still make it a point to talk to both parties (NPA and military and police) not to fight within Sagada," Pangod said, adding, two visitors have cancelled their visit to the idyllic and laid-back mountain enclave.

Such fighting is bad for the tourism business here, he said,anticipating the heavy influx of tourists with the Lent and the summer vacation season.

Before Sagada was declared a peace zone, frequent skirmishes between government forces and NPA rebels left some civilians dead or traumatized and made them fear to till their fields.

Some army soldiers, also in the late 80s, killed two youths right at the town center while an encounter between the NPA and military happenedd right at the campus of the Sagada Central School in the Poblacion where troops encamped.

In June last year, police and the military launched an assault following the NPA ambush of around 100 police trainees in Tadian town that left one dead and almost a dozen others wounded.

The Army’s 54th Infantry Battalion used to encamp in Sagada but pulled out early this year after the municipal council and elders wanted the peace zone revived. – With reports from Kimberlie  Quitasol   and Gina Dizon