Child, cop killed after NPA ambush in Bukidnon town

LANAO DEL SUR, Philippines (First published 12:22 p.m.) — Communist rebels killed a child and a policeman and wounded five others, one of them a municipal police chief, in an ambush on Thursday in Talakag, Bukidnon.

The cadaver of the slain SPO3 Arnel Carillo was found in a hospital on Friday by policemen after questioning villagers residing in the surroundings of the spot where he and his companions were ambushed on Thursday. 

Carillo and his superior, Inspector Joven Acuesta, municipal police chief of Amai Manabilang town in Lanao del Sur, and two others, PO1 Nathaniel Ibal and SPO1 Pacifico Gabudoy, were returning to their office from a conference in Cayagan de Oro City when rebels fired at their vehicle while in Barangay Tikalaan, Talakag.

Local officials said they have received reports purporting that the ambushers belonged to the Fronts 53 and 72 of the New People’s Army.

The rebels also fired at a vehicle trailing behind the police car carrying Acuesta and his subordinates, killing a four-year-old child and wounding two women.

Acuesta, who was wounded in the ambush, was rushed by rescuers to a hospital, where he is now undergoing medication.

The Police Regional Office-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao first reported late Thursday that Carillo, Ibal and Gabudoy were missing, citing reports from the Bukidnon provincial police office, which is under Police Regional Office-10.

Personnel of the Talakag municipal police found out on Friday morning that Cabodoy and Ibal, who were both wounded, have escaped while being chased by the rebels and managed to seek medical attention from a hospital in Malaybalay City in Bukidnon.