Military officer killed in clash w/ NPA rebels

CATBALOGAN CITY, Philippines — Government troops are now in pursuit of guerrillas, under the Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee of the New People’s Army, who killed a young Philippine Army official during an encounter the other day at Las Navas town in Northern Samar.

Quoting reports from the field, 8th Infantry Division spokesman Major Amado Gutierrez said 2nd Lieutenant Raphael Vicente Cubillan, a 2014 graduate of the Philippine Military Academy, died while leading his platoon of the 34th Infantry Battalion against the rebels in a 15-minute firefight in Barangay Imelda past 9 a.m. of February 3.

A report from interaksyon.com stated that Cubillan was hit in the chest and was airlifted from the battlefield, but died on his way to a hospital. Gutierrez said Cubillan was a native of Cagayan de Oro City and was newly married with one child.

“My men were conducting peace and security patrol when the rebels fired at them,” Lieutenant Colonel Edgar Delos Reyes, the battalion commander, said.

The military could not say if the rebels suffered any casualties, although they said two suspected guerrillas were cornered and captured. — From the wires