A suspected communist rebel was killed in Northern Samar as the military deployed more troops in far-flung areas to contain the movement of the communist rebels which it accused of harassing both voters and candidates.
Maj. Gen. Raul Farnacio, commander of the 8th Infantry Division, said the death of a communist rebel occurred during a clash with his men from the 803rd Brigade in Barangay Tagan-ayan in Las Navas town.
“The firefight lasted for about 10 minutes that resulted in one enemy killed and the recovery of an Ingram M10A1 with nine rounds of ammunition and one homemade shotgun. There was no reported casualty on the government side,” said Farnacio.
The clash erupted as the military began deploying 70 percent of their personnel to secure various areas with heavy presence of communist rebels, extremist groups and partisan armed groups.
The national police is now on the highest alert status and also started deploying its personnel to assist in the security of polling precincts.
Almost 1,000 areas are under election hotspots based on the assessment of the police and military.
Security officials said the communist rebels is one of the major security threats in the coming elections, as they accused the New People’s Army of raking in millions of money from permit to campaign fees from candidates. (Aaron Recuenco)