3 of 4 arrested NPA guerrillas are minors

Government troops arrested four communist rebels, three of them minors, in Catanauan, Quezon last Saturday, reports reaching Camp Aguinaldo said.

The report said a team from the Charlie Company of the Army’s 74th Infantry Battalion was on routine patrol in Ba—rangay San Pablo Suha at about 7 p.m. when they spotted four suspicious-looking individuals, identified as Carlos Endriga, 20, and Resty Buen, Rogelio de Roxas and Romeo Resurreccion, all 17 years old.

The soldiers confiscated a caliber .38 revolver and a cellular phone from them.

Endriga, investigation showed, was instructed by a certain Alex and Allan, both local leaders of the New People’s Army (NPA), to conduct recruitment in the area.

The 74th IB is readying charges against Endriga.

The NPA has increased its presence in barangays nationwide, the military earlier reported.

As of the first semester of this year, the Armed Forces said a total of 2,262 barangays were "affected" by the communist insurgency or an increase of 293 barangays compared to the 2001 figure.

Of the affected barangays, 1,806 were described as "infiltrated" and 456 as "influenced." The military, however, did not define how barangays are "infiltrated" or "influenced."