MORE NEWS, ISABELA

Body of NPA leader killed in Echague encounter exhumed

ECHAGUE, Isabela – Troops from the 45th Infantry Battalion under commanding officer, Lt. Col. Clifford Cyril Y. Rivera, and policemen exhumed Dec. 16, the body of an alleged New People’s Army leader identified as Roberto Benedicto here in Barangay San Miguel.

Army officials identified the body as that of Roberto Benedicto, also known as Commander Rey, the 2nd platoon leader of Southern Front of the Communist Party of the Phils.-NPA who resided in Barangay San Carlos, Echague. 1st Lt. Dennis G. Guillermo chief of the army division public affairs office said the NPA leader was fatally wounded during their encounter with the troops of the 45IB in Barangay Mabbayad of the same town last Nov. 20. Rivera reportedly expired the following day and was buried by his comrades along their route of withdrawal in Barangay San Miguel.

On Dec. 16, troops from the 45 Infantry Battalion, police and media went to the burial site to exhume the body but heavy mud and narrow trail prohibited vehicles from passing towards the vicinity, causing the group the group to hike the distance. The body of the NPA leader had gun shot wounds on his thigh and on the lower part of his stomach.

The Commander of the 5th Infantry Division, Maj. Gen. Melchor J. Dilodilo commended the troops saying the “series of successful internal security operations practically rendered the NPA group in that part of Isabela dismantled.” Combat operation conducted by the troops last Nov. 20 in Barangay Mabbayad reportedly resulted to the arrest of five NPA members and recovery of nine high-powered firearms.