Troops recover IEDs from NPA

SOUTH COTABATO, Philippines - Soldiers on Monday recovered a dozen improvised explosive devices (IEDs) left by communist rebels following a firefight with soldiers in west of South Cotabato’s T’boli town.

The IEDs could be used as roadside bombs or as time-delayed explosives that can be set off in public places, such as terminals and markets, using mobile phones.

Lt. Col. Ronald Alcudia, commanding officer of the Army’s 27th Infantry Battalion (IB), said the explosives were found in an open field where his subordinates and a group of New People’s Army (NPA) guerillas collecting revolutionary taxes from T’boli tribal communities traded shots for an hour.

The encounter erupted when the NPAs opened fire on a team of soldiers dispatched to verify the reported presence of gunmen mulcting “protection money” from peasants in Barangay Lakunon in the hinterland T’boli town.

Local folks have long been complaining of the excessive taxation activities of NPAs in the barangay.

Alcudia said 27th IB combatants will continue with their community patrols in T’boli’s hinterland areas that are vulnerable to NPA incursions.