Joint police and military operatives killed five suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA), including the group’s female medical officer and intelligence officer, in a raid that triggered a shootout in Baras town of Rizal early morning of Thursday.
Col. Joseph Arguelles, director of the Rizal Police Provincial Office, identified the slain rebels as Ka Sandra, reportedly a medical officer, and Ka Onli, reportedly an intelligence officer of the communist group. The three other slain rebels are yet to be identified.
Arguelles said the operation stemmed from the report of the presence of a ranking officer of the NPA in Sitio Malalim in Barangay San Juan.
Police and military operatives then went to the area at around 2:30 a.m. to serve the arrest warrant against a certain Dads, allegedly the head of the Finance and member of the Executive Committee of the NPA operating in CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) areas.
But a clash erupted when the rebels allegedly opened fire at the approaching policemen and soldiers, triggering a shootout that led to their death.
Confiscated in the clash site were two M16 rifles, a .45 pistol, an Uzi, a .38 revolver and various documents.
Arguelles said there were several communist rebels who were able to flee and are now being hunted down.
Several activists being linked to the communist rebels were either arrested or ended up dead, like a Red-tagged 60-year old female doctor who was gunned down with her husband in Negros Oriental.
Both the government and the NPA did not declare a Holiday truce this year. (Aaron Recuenco)
