Army Colonel Rogelio Rosete, commanding officer of the 502nd Infantry Brigade (IB) of the Philippine Army, said that one of the rebels killed in the encounter was Bonifacio Blanza, alias Costales, one of the five suspected gunmen in the ambush-slay of Aguinaldo, a former three-term Cagayan governor, and his police escort in Tuguegarao City in June 2001.
Blanza, according to the military, is a high-ranking political officer of the Cagayan Valley Front Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).
The other five rebels killed in encounter were identified as Martin Dolado, alias Ka Inciong, secretary of the NPA’s Southern Cagayan Valley Front; Renato Busania, former chairman of the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines-Cagayan Valley; and his wife, Tymar Delgado, a graduate of the University of the Philippines; Felix Robregado, an officer of the NPA’s medical unit here; and a certain Andrea Bangayan, alias Ka Nida.
Blanza and the five other reported casualties were among the more than 40 NPA rebels encountered by army troops in remote Barangay San Dionisio in Maddela, Quirino last week.
The rebels reportedly fled and disbanded into small groups after military reinforcements arrived at the site following a fierce two-hour gun battle.
Rosete said his 502nd IB troops were conducting a combat patrol, following reports of a series of NPA gatherings in the area reportedly in relation with the CPP’s founding anniversary on Dec. 26 when they chanced upon the rebels in Barangay San Dionisio.
The Army report also disclosed that five of the still undetermined wounded rebels were captured and are now under medical treatment at the Army’s 5th Infantry Division station hospital in Echague, Isabela.
The captured rebels were identified as Melchor Santos, 23, a fourth year AB Economics student of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP); Jasmin Abaoag, 21, a graduating student of AMA Computer University; and Ana Maria Anacan, 19, also a PUP student; and a certain Tumbali and Punchilian.
Recovered from the rebels were two M16 Armalite rifles, an M1 Carbine, two .38 caliber revolvers, two 12 gauge shotguns; two Claymore mines, a hand grenade, and subversive documents allegedly indicating the NPA’s plans to stage ‘show-of-force’ activities in connection with the CPP’s 35th founding anniversary.