Google map of Barangay Maitum, Tandag City, Surigao del Sur.
BUTUAN CITY – The communist New People’s Army (NPA) lost six high-powered firearms in a skirmish with the Army’s 36th Infantry Battalion in the outskirts of Tandag City, Surigao del Sur, Tuesday morning.
Capt. Reyzander Ga, the 36IB civil-military operations officer, said the six recovered firearms included a Bushmaster rifle, an M16 rifle, a Stag A5 VLTOR rifle, an M653 rifle, and two R4 rifles.
“Our troops also recovered two anti-personnel mines, including their accessories, and 30 backpacks,” Ga said in a phone interview, referring to the clash in Tandag’s remote Barangay Maitum.
Ga said the NPA guerrillas were the same group that government troops chanced upon on Sept. 11 in the vicinity of Barangay Maticdum,also Tandag City. It resulted in the death of an NPA rebel identified as Dexter Salazar Maca, 37, and the recovery of a high-powered firearm.
According to Ga, the 30-man NPA group the 36IB encountered belongs to the weakened Guerrilla Front 30, Sub-Regional Committee Westland, North Eastern Mindanao Regional Committee (NEMRC) led by Joel Maca Mahinay.
“This time, the group of Mahinay was reinforced by the forces from the Regional Headquarters of the NEMRC,” he said.
A pursuit operation is still ongoing in the vicinity of the encounter site as of this posting. (PNA)
