Soldiers securing PCOS machines clash with Reds in Samar

MANILA, Philippines - Soldiers providing security in the transport of precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines and election paraphernalia clashed with a group of suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Barangay Nawi,  Paranas town in Samar on Friday.

Lt. Col. Cerilo Balaoro Jr., commander of the 87th Infantry Battalion, said the soldiers chanced upon the NPA rebels, who were reportedly extorting money and campaigning for NPA-backed candidates and party-list groups.

Balaoro said soldiers recovered a .45 caliber pistol, a .38 caliber revolver, three magazines and ammunition for M16, a blasting cap for an improvised explosive device, subversive documents and personal belongings as the rebels retreated. No one from either side was reported hurt.

Capt. Amadiano Gutierrez, chief of the 8th Infantry Division (ID), said the encounter followed the arrest of NPA leader Renato Abadiano in Barangay Dolores, San Sebastian town.

Abadiano was waiting for the payment of the so-called permit to campaign fee from a candidate when he was arrested.

In Sitio Bato in Bacon District in Sorsogon City, three policemen escorting a Comelec vehicle loaded with PCOS machines were wounded when suspected NPA rebels fired at them.

Chief Inspector Juancho Balte, PO2 Nelson Dioquino and PO1 Eric Elquiro were wounded in a 30-minute gunfire with the rebels, Superintendent Renato Bataller, Bicol police spokesman, said.

In Tabuk, Kalinga, NPA rebels admitted their involvement in Thursday’s ambush of election officers and soldiers transporting PCOS machines.

Tipon Gil-ayab, spokesman for the Kalinga-based Lejo Cawilan Command of the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA, said in a statement that they launched the attack as a “punitive action” against soldiers dispatched in areas which are NPA strongholds.

Gil-ayab said soldiers were maligning legal and progressive party-list groups, in violation of Comelec guidelines.

He said soldiers have been destroying the campaign paraphernalia of these party-list groups.

3 dead in Palawan ambush

Three persons were killed and six were wounded in an ambush in Bataraza, Palawan Friday night in another election-related incident, reports from Western Command (Wescom) and the local police said.

The fatalities were identified as Bataraza municipal secretary Al Rajid Badidil, 38, supporter of mayoral candidate Mulzinin Abdurajik; and Myra Barazi, 16, and Albany Hassan, supporters of Mayor Hadji Abe Ibba, whose wife Hadjia Karina is running to replace him.

Fighting broke out when supporters of Abdurajik were reportedly gunned down by Ibba’s supporters before midnight Thursday, said Senior Superintendent Atanacio Macalan, Palawan provincial police director.

Macalan said Badidil and several colleagues were in a Toyota Revo when shot at by supporters of Iba.

“Two died at the scene while another one died at the hospital,” a Wescom report said, adding that Marine troops and additional policemen were deployed in Bataraza to prevent the spillover of the conflict. – Jaime Laude, Evelyn Macairan, Celso Amo, Artemio Dumlao, Ricky Bautista