NPA rebel killed as troops overrun NPA camp in Mauban – Solcom

LUCENA CITY -- A suspected New People's Army rebel was killed in a 30-minute firefight with Army soldiers in Mauban, Quezon, Thursday, according to reports reaching the Southern Luzon Command based here in Camp Nakar.

Captain Lea Santiago, Solcom public information officer, said the Army troopers were conducting combat operations in Sitio (sub-village) Katmuna, Barangay (village) Cagsiay 2 in Mauban when they chanced upon around 30 heavily armed rebels in their encampment at 7:30 a.m.

“The troops were able to overrun and clear the encampment, including retrieve an anti-personnel landmine,” she added.
Earlier, Maj. Gen. Delfin Bangit, Solcom commanding general, said the armed strength of the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA in Southern Luzon is “down by at least 70 percent.”

“We have cleared many of their so-called ‘territories’ where the people can now live in peace and pursue their economic activities without being harassed or threatened with extortion by them (NPA),” he said.

The communist guerillas have been waging a protracted rebellion since the late 1960s. The rebels claim to have a presence in nearly 70 of the Philippines' 79 provinces.
According to latest military report, the NPA, the CPPA’s war machines, had 5,760 fighters by the end of 2007, it’s weakest in terms of manpower in 20 years. (STM)