Senior Superintendent Victorio Caragan, Quezon police director, identified the slain lawman as SPO3 Clarito Ilao, a member of the 405th Provincial Mobile Group, and the wounded as SPO3 Levirato Garcia, PO3 Jimmy Bendo and PO1 Ronnel Lamadrid.
According to Caragan, the police received a report at about 3:30 a.m. that a group of armed men clad in fatigues was spotted heading toward Barangay Lumingon in Tiaong town where a cell site of Globe Telecom is located.
A combined team of the police and the Army’s 743rd Combat Squadron immediately responded to the report and intercepted the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels, numbering at least 50, who were on board a truck and a van, triggering a firefight.
Last Saturday morning, NPA guerrillas bombed a Globe Telecom relay tower in Barangay Piit in Lucban, Quezon.
Pursuing government forces figured in a running gunbattle with the rebels that reached as far as Sampaloc town.
Last Friday, elements of the Delta Company of the Army’s 76th Infantry Battalion clashed with 15 rebels in Barangay Lapnig in Gumaca town.
There were no reported casualties on both sides during the 45—minute encounter. — With Ed Amoroso and Cecille Suerte Felipe