3 cops, 2 civilians killed in NPA attacks

Three policemen and two civilians were killed by communist insurgents in separate attacks in the eastern and southern Philippines, the military said yesterday.

Armed men believed to be members of the New People’s Army (NPA) raided a police detachment in Pio Duran town in eastern Albay province on Friday, killing police officers Macario Odena and Sancho Sueso on the spot.

A third policeman, Alfredo Diaz, died hours later while being treated for wounds at a hospital.

No casualties were reported on the enemy side, the military said, but at least two M-16 rifles and a revolver left behind by the gunmen were recovered.

On Thursday, NPA guerrillas opened fire on a cluster of huts in Davao del Norte province, killing two men, the military said without elaborating.

The NPA is the armed wing of the underground Communist Party of the Philippines.

The government last year suspended talks with the rebels after the NPA killed two members of the House of Representatives.

In the Albay incident, SPO4 Odena had just arrived at the police outpost at the Pier Site in Pio Duran town with PO2 Emmanuel Macadang after their usual evening round when a group of 10 heavily armed rebels poked their M-16s at the four policemen manning the station at around 9:45 p.m. Saturday.

One of the rebels stabbed Odena in the back while two other policemen asleep were forced to wake up at gunpoint.

Suddenly an NPA amazon ordered her men to fire at Odena, Sueso, Diaz and Macadang. Odena and Sueso died instantly with wounds to the head, while Diaz died Sunday morning on the operating table in the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching center in Daraga, 80 kilometers away from Pio Duran.

Macadang is now in stable condition and recovering at the BRTTH.

The raid on the police station caused panic among the viewers of a nearby amateur singing contest, with children and elderly injured in the ensuing stampede.

The rebels took two M-16 rifles and four caliber .38 revolvers as well as ammunition. They broke into small groups and fled toward Barangays Lawinon, Origon and Malidon.

Col. Dante Bonifacio, 202 brigade commander, immediately ordered that the perpetrators believed led by a certain Ka Jimmy of Larangan 77 Front of the NPA, operating in Albay’s third district, be hunted down.

Probers said at least 30 NPA rebels were in the area at the time. Intelligence estimates some 38 NPA regulars operate in far-flung barangays of Pio Duran.

"The rebels were forced to conduct this operation to instill fear in the people of Pio Duran," said Maj. Jose Broso, group commander of the Civil Relations Service of the AFP in Bicol.

He added there was widespread demoralization in rebel ranks after their yearend report was intercepted by government troopers in an encounter in Guinobatan town last year.

Meanwhile, agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested over the weekend an alleged NPA member for the kidnapping last December of a couple that owns a bus company in Quezon Province.

NBI agents identified the suspect as Eduardo Fernandez, alias "Ka Jun," 39, of Andaman Village, Lucena City, Quezon.

According to the NBI, the suspect and three of his cohorts identified as "Ka Larry, " "Ka Henry," and "Ka Romy" kidnapped bus company owners Silvino, 56, and Yolanda Escobar, and the Escobar’s driver Randy Verdaloza along the national highway in Tiaong, Quezon last Dec. 2.

Silvino, who owns Raymond Transit, told reporters that he and his wife were on their way to Manila from Tiaong, aboard their pick-up truck driven by Verdaloza when their path was blocked by armed suspects at about 6 p.m.

The NBI said that days before the incident, the Escobar couple had received a letter signed by a certain "Ka Edwin" of the NPA’s Banahaw Command, demanding P3 million in "revolutionary taxes." The Escobars however ignored the letter, the NBI said.

At the time of the abduction, the suspects told the victims that they were members of the NPA’s Banahaw Command, and that the Escobars would be held until they coughed up the desired amount.

Silvino said he, his wife and driver were held at gunpoint, handcuffed and blindfolded, while being driven around for hours in the commandeered pick-up truck and being talked into paying the P3 million.

Finally at about midnight, Silvino agreed to pay and was released by the suspects at a gasoline station in Tiaong. He was told to prepare the cash and meet them next morning in front of the Sto. Tomas church in Batangas for the pay-off.

In the morning Silvino managed to secure the release of his wife and driver despite paying only P2.1 million.

The victims thought it was the end of story but on Feb. 12 they received another letter from the same "Ka Edwin" demanding the balance of P1 million.

The Escobars then sought the assistance of the NBI who set up the entrapment at the intended pay-off site along the Maharlika Highway at the border of San Pablo, Laguna and Lucena City, Quezon.

The NBI said Fernandez was nabbed while in the act of receiving the marked money from Silvino. The suspect allegedly had with him a caliber .38 revolver and a copy of the demand letter.

The other suspects were also present at the pay-off site but managed to elude arrest, the NBI said. They are now being hunted down. – Mike Frialde, Celso Amo