1 hurt, as army overruns NPA camps in Aurora

BALER, Aurora, August 24, 2011-A Philippine Army sustained minor injury when the government troopers raided and overran a New People’s Army (NPA) camp in Sitio Balagbag, Barangay Dimanayat, San Luis, Aurora Tuesday after a fierce battle with the elements of 48^th Infantry “Guardians” Battalion, Charlie Company led by 2lt Edwin Lauro.

Lt. Col. Kurt A. Decapia identified the wounded in action as PFC Erwin Dacayo, a native of Guimba, Nueva Ecija who was already brought at the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Medical Center, V Luna road, Quezon City for medical treatment and now is in a stable condition.

Decapia said that his troops were dispatched to hinterlands of Dimanayat for the purpose of giving clothes, foods and medical mission for the villagers. “The army took foot patrol for several days from Brgy. Diteki to the coastal barangays of San Luis town,” he added.

Pfc Erwin Dacayo in white shirt inside the ambulance.

At that juncture, he said that the villagers and rebel returnees of Brgy. Diteki reported the presence of the rebels in Balagbag area. He immediately called the group of 2lt. Lauro to conduct combat operation in the place; thus, the army encountered more or less fifty (50) rebels at around 6:20 yesterday morning at Balagbag area.

The army encountered the group of Gregorio Torres, Alias Ka Lenny/Jake who is the leader of the regional yunit guerilla (RYG) together with the other rebels in Central Luzon who gathered in the place to conduct atrocities in the province.

“The rebels are projecting that they are still strong and migrating to show proof of their strength. They are few, they just combined themselves as a group from different provinces to conduct atrocities here in the province, but they failed due to the early reports from the residents of Diteki,” he said.

He said that the group of 2lt Lauro overran the said communist rebel camp after an almost an hour of gun battle, believing that many rebels were either killed or injured, as blood stains were seen along the rebels’ withdrawal routes.

 
The military initially recovered from the camp of the rebels, 1 bag of explosives, 2 bags of subversive documents and personal belongings.

As of this report, an operation manhunt and blocking operation are being conducted by the 48^th Infantry Battalion against the rebels. (Jason de Asis)