2 Cebu cops, civilian wounded in ambush

CEBU — Two policemen and a civilian were wounded after suspected New People’s Army rebels ambushed them in the mountain sitio of Magtacop in Barangay Pansoy, Sogod town Thursday morning.

The three wounded, PO1 Eduardo Becoy, PO2 Elimar Mendoza and Mitchell Completado, were on a police jeep, along with Inspector Richard Caballero, deputy commander of the 3rd Regional Mobile Group based at Camp Rodriguez in Bogo town, when they were attacked.

The rebels, numbering at least 10, fired at the police jeep for five minutes before fleeing to the mountains with Mendoza’s M-16 rifle and bandolier.

Caballero was unscathed and was able to carry Completado to safety. Completado was hit in the thigh.

Becoy, who was the driver, was hit in the back and arm but managed to jump from the jeep down a slope and hid behind thick bushes.

Mendoza was hit in the buttocks, thigh and knees but survived by pretending to be dead.

It took 30 minutes before reinforcements from the 78th Infantry Battalion based in Barangay Damulog arrived.

The victims were taken to the Don Juan Dosado Memorial Hospital but were later transferred to the Chong Hua Hospital in Cebu City.

RMG commander Eduardo Catabas said Caballero was supposed to inspect the RMG detachment in Barangay Pansoy when they were ambushed. — Freeman News Service