Government soldier killed in Misamis Oriental encounter

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 27): Government soldier killed in Misamis Oriental encounter

A government trooper was killed as renewed fighting between the military and the New People’s Army (NPA) erupted in Misamis Oriental Monday.

Captain Joe Patrick Martinez, spokesperson of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division based here, said that the armed encounter took place in the hinterland of Sugbongcogon, a coastal town east of Misamis Oriental.

Martinez did not disclose the name of the government soldier pending notification of the members of the family.

He said that the clashes occurred two days after the military ordered a hot pursuit operation against the perpetrators of the attack of a hydroelectric plant in Valencia, Bukidnon last Saturday.

Martinez said that about 15 armed NPA members raided the compound of the proposed Pulanai Hydroelectric Plant in Lumbayao, an outskirt village of Lumbayao in Valencia, Bukidnon.

The rebels seized the mobile phones of the plant personnel and planted improvised explosives around the plant site, which the military ordnance team successfully recovered.

Town Mayor Junjun Lagbas of Sugbongcogon, said that his office received a report that the firefight occurred near the boundary of Bukidnon, about 18 kilometers south of the town’s hinterland.

The armed encounter in Misamis Oriental was the first since the peace talk with the government and communist peace panel scuttled early this month.

Last week, had the military and police not responded quickly, a potential armed clash would have occurred after about 60 armed NPA rebels established a roadblock on the highway in Medina, also a coastal town, east of Misamis Oriental, after occupying a village there.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=967673