SURPRISE ATTACK. A police car that swerved to a roadside after the New People's Army detonated an explosive in Borongan City, Eastern Samar on December 13, killing a policeman and a civilian. The death toll climbed to four after a mother succumbed to head fracture Wednesday night. (Contributed photo)
TACLOBAN CITY -- The death toll from the New People’s Army’s (NPA) attack on policemen on December 13 has climbed to four after a mother succumbed to head fracture Wednesday night.
The Borongan City information office identified the latest casualty as Mary Grace Rapada, 44, of San Isidro village, San Julian town.
She died while undergoing treatment at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center here.
In a press briefing on Friday, Philippine Army 8th Infantry Division spokesperson Capt. Reynaldo Aragones compared the NPA to other terrorist groups that do not value the lives of civilians.
“It’s just okay if a soldier and policeman will die in this fight against the terrorist NPA because this is our job, but it is very tragic if civilian dies because of NPA’s non-sense ideology,” Aragones told reporters.
Aragones made the statement on the sidelines of the media orientation on Executive Order 70 or the 'whole-of-nation approach in ending the local communist armed conflict.
Rapada, a mother of three, was heading home to San Julian town from the city onboard a tricycle when rebels detonated the explosive intended for a passing police patrol car along a major road in Libuton village in Borongan City.
In an interview on Dec. 14, her husband Dario, 44, appealed to the NPA to stop the attacks that have killed and wounded countless civilians.
“We don’t really understand what they’re fighting for, but our family has been suffering from their attack against the government,” said Dario, a gasoline station cashier in the city, the capital of Eastern Samar province.
On December 13, a junior police officer and an old woman were killed on the spot while four other policemen and 12 civilians, including three minors, were injured in a blast attack.
Hours later, Anthony Balayanto, 50, an employee of Taft, Eastern Samar local government died while being transported in an ambulance to Tacloban for treatment.
The NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines. (PNA)
