By Roy Ramos
ZAMBOANGA CITY
A top leader of a communist insurgency in the Philippines has been killed along with five other guerillas in a clash with government troops in the southern island of Mindanao, according to the military Tuesday.
Lt. Col. Felix Ronnie Babac, commander of the army’s 73rd Infantry Battalion, told MindaNews that Tolentino Bariquit -- alias Ka Brigol -- was among six New People's Army (NPA) rebels slain Monday in a hinterland village of Alabel town, Sarangani province.
“We were able to confirm his identity based on the testimonies of local residents,” Babac was quoted to have said in a radio interview.
The army side suffered no casualties in the clash at around 8 a.m., he added.
Brigol – described as in his early 50s -- headed NPA Front 71’s “Platoon Mazda” after leading another front of the outfit’s Far South Mindanao Regional Revolutionary Committee, and had units operating in the provinces of Sarangani and Davao del Sur.
According to Babac, troops were conducting a peace and development outreach activity in Datal Anggas when they received reports that NPA guerrillas had set up a camp nearby, with villagers from the B’laan mountain tribe complaining of regular extortion of food supplies and other items.
After troops arrived at the site, around 30 rebels reportedly opened fire -- triggering a fierce gun battle after which the NPA members withdrew toward the border of the two provinces.
Nine assault weapons and dozens of backpacks were recovered from the area.
“Our troops actually overran a temporary encampment of the NPA unit as a result of the operation,” Babac said.
While additional troops were deployed to the area to secure residents, the official explained that an evacuation had not been necessary.
The encounter comes a day after another NPA unit raided a police station in the nearby province of Davao Oriental where a firefight left two army soldiers and a communist guerilla dead Sunday night.
The NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has been waging an insurgency since 1969 that has left tens of thousands of people dead. It reportedly has around 4,000 members in 69 of the country’s 81 provinces.
Philippine authorities have tagged the rebels as notorious extortionists and blamed them for harassing banana, pineapple and rubber plantations, as well as poultry farms and mining outfits.
Peace talks between the NPA and the government collapsed in February 2013 due to rebel demands that detained comrades be freed.
