DUMAGUETE CITY -- Suspected New People’s Army (NPA) members allegedly harassed and fired upon police personnel and Army troops Friday morning as they were returning to the center after extracting the bodies of a one-year-old boy and his father, who were shot dead in Sitio Tara, Barangay San Jose in Sta. Catalina, Negros Oriental, the night before.
No one was injured among the government forces, said Lt. Col. Ramir Redosendo, battalion commander of the 11th Infantry Battalion (11IB) of the Philippine Army based in Negros Oriental.
Sketchy and initial reports from the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office (NOPPO) said that at about 10 a.m., a composite team of police personnel led by Police Capt. Michael Rubia, chief of the Sta. Catalina Police Station; the 705th Regional Mobile Force Battalion 7; and Bravo Company soldiers of the 11IB were returning to the town proper from Sitio Tara after investigating the deaths and extracting the bodies of Marlon Ocampo and his son, Marjon.
On their way back to town, six to seven armed persons, who were believed to be NPA members, fired at them and immediately fled.
The bodies of the shooting victims were not immediately withdrawn due to the reported presence of alleged NPA members.
Ocampo and his son were shot dead by unidentified armed men inside their home in Sitio Tara, Barangay San Jose at about 8 p.m. Thursday.
Police Staff Master Sgt. Jonathan Abucayon, chief of the investigation section of the Sta. Catalina Police Station, said two other children, aged 3 and 5, were unharmed, but their mother, Angel Miranda, was wounded and brought to a hospital here for treatment.
The motive of the incident has yet to be determined, Abucayon said.
The death of the father and son brought to seven the total number of people slain in Negros Oriental a day.
The other killings included that of a barangay captain and two Department of Education employees in Guihulngan, a civilian in Ayungon, and another one in Siaton. (PNA)
