Soldier, 2 rebels killed in fresh clashes in Eastern Visayas

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte, May 12 – A soldier died and two rebels were killed in two separate clashes between the Philippine Army and communist rebels in Leyte and Samar provinces this week.

In a statement issued Friday noon, the Philippine Army’s 8th Infantry Division confirmed that Private First Class Jaime Mabini, Jr. succumbed Thursday noon while undergoing treatment in a hospital in Northern Samar. 

Mabini was seriously wounded during a 10-minute firefight between military troops and the New People's Army (NPA) in the boundaries of Camayaan village in Silvino Lobos, Northern Samar and San Roque village in Matuguinao, Samar around midnight Wednesday.

After the clash, soldiers found a dead body of an unknown NPA member near the encounter site. 

In Hilongos, Leyte, government troops found on Thursday a dead body of a rebel and his wounded comrade a day after a firefight between soldiers and communist rebels in an upland village there, the statement said.

“An investigation is now being conducted to get more information on the background of the fatality and the wounded rebel,” Brig. Gen. Francisco Mendoza, Jr., commander of the Philippine Army’s 802nd Infantry Brigade, told the Philippine News Agency on Friday. 

The dead rebel was identified only as Arthur while the wounded was named Nilo Algerea, who is now recuperating at a public hospital.

The two rebels were found near the encounter site in San Antonio village. Mendoza believed that their companions left them to escape soldiers chasing them. 

The Army in Eastern Visayas called for the active participation of the community in immediately informing nearby military units on the presence of NPA rebels in their areas.

The Army confirmed that communist rebels have been reestablishing their presence in remote communities in Eastern Visayas.

 (Sarwell Q. Meniano & Elvie Roman Roa/PNA)