CAMP GENERAL SIMEON OLA, Legazpi City – Two soldiers were killed Saturday afternoon by suspected New People’s Army (NPA) members while attending a village fiesta in Barangay Cabiguan, Pilar town, some 40 kilometers away from Sorsogon City, police reported yesterday.
Senior Inspector Malu Calubaquib, Police Regional Office (PRO-5) spokesperson, identified the slain soldiers as Staff Sgt. Epifanio Fernandez Millares, 43, assigned to the Philippine Army’s Mapaso Cafgu Active Auxiliary (CAA) detachment in Irosin, Sorsogon; and Sgt. Zaldy Austria Cristobal, 40, Army detachment commander in Mandaon town, Masbate province.
Calubaquib said that the two soldiers went home to attend the fiesta celebration in Barangay Cabiguan, but were shot to death by four armed men believed to be NPA members at about 2:20 p.m., Saturday.
Police have set up checkpoints at the boundaries of nearby barangays for possible arrest of the suspects. (Niño N. Luces)