Old couple dead in Isabela clash

ILAGAN CITY, Philippines  – An elderly couple was confirmed dead during an encounter between government forces and communist rebels in Echague, Isabela last Friday, police said.

Senior Superintendent Frank Mabanag, Isabela police director, said the rebels being pursued by government troops were the ones who killed seven soldiers and wounded nine others in an ambush in Echague town last Nov. 17.

Sketchy reports said Vic Valenzuela and his wife Rosie, said to be sexagenarians, were found dead outside their hut. Mabanag said they were used as human shields by the retreating rebels.

Recovered from the site were a handheld radio, teaching manuals, detonating cords, a laptop and the personal belongings of Pfc. Albert Lagua, one of the fatalities in the Nov. 17 ambush.

Mabanag said the entire province is under heightened alert as special forces from the 2nd Police Public Safety Battalion were deployed at the foothills of Sierra Madre along the boundaries of the municipalities of Jones, Echague, San Guillermo, San Agustin and Angadanan to block the routes of the retreating guerrillas.