THE Southern Luzon Command (Solcom) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has branded as a “desperate move” by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the murder early today, January 17, 2021, of three soldiers in Legazpi City, Bicol region.
Solcom area commander, Lt. General Antonio ‘Jun’ Parlade, in a statement, claimed the soldiers, in civilian clothes and riding on two motorcycles, were ambushed along the national road in Bariis, Legaspi City past 8:00 am by a hit squad from the communist New People’s Army (NPA) dispatched by the Bicol Regional Party Committee of the CPP to “target even unarmed soldiers.”
Another soldier was also wounded in the attack.
The names of the victims were withheld pending notification of their families.
Parlade said his men were on an “administrative mission” to attend a coordination meeting with local officials for the security of a road project in the towns of Bankerohan and Villahermosa, when they were waylaid by the suspects who immediately fled the crime scene.
A day previously, Parlade bared that 11 NPA members, headed by Danilo Golem Guray, vice platoon commander of the NPA unit operating in Castilla, Sorsogon, surrendered to the 9TH Infantry Division, bringing with them their firearms.
Another unit of the NPA operating in Bulan, Sorsogon, comprising 9 men, also surrendered to the military, together with their firearms on the same day.
The continuing attacks by the NPA in Bicol against soldiers and the civilian population, the official added, cannot prevent the further surrender of NPA fighters “as many of them are tired, hungry, and demoralized with the illicit activities of their leaders.”