Rebels kill detachment chief: Army
An Army detachment commander was killed after rebels who posed as policemen attacked his Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Units Active Auxiliary station in Sitio Polopangyan, Brgy. Bug-ang, Toboso, Negros Occidental Saturday afternoon.
The fatality was identified as Staff Sergeant Efraim Bagonoc.
Wounded were CAFGU members Jimar Villanueva and Ariel Solitario, who are now confined in a hospital.
According to the 303rd Infantry Brigade in Murcia, Negros Occidental, Bagonoc, together with a CAFGU member, left the detachment at around 3:30 p.m. to go to Sentro Polopangyan.
Along the road, Bagonoc was accosted and captured by six communist rebels on board a red van, who pretended to be members of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.
After that, about 20 NPA rebels wearing Philippine Army uniforms, on board a sugarcane truck, followed the red van going to the detachment.
The group claimed to be members of the Komiteng Rehiyonal-Negros’ North Negros Front.
Bagonoc was brought to his detachment by the men in the van and was held hostage in front of his camp to pressure his men to surrender.
He was killed as his men tried to fight back.
Before leaving the area, the rebels set the camp on fire.
They also carted away 24 firearms – two M-16s, ten M-14s, and twelve M1-Garands before responding troops from the 62nd Infantry Battalion and the 303rd Brigade’s Scout Platoon arrived.
Maj. Gen. Vicente Porto, 3rd Infantry Division commander, said the incident again proved that the NPA, through perpetration of a heinous crime against the people, showed their wanton disregard for human life.
This is proven by their execution of Staff Sergeant Bagonoc, he said.
Porto said the 3rd ID will not be deterred by the display of force by the NPA
in North Negros.
“We expect our troops to catch up with them since pursuit operations are currently underway. Our 303rd Brigade will ensure that these bandits will be captured, the firearms returned, and the perpetrators prosecuted under the full force of the law. We will not let them get away with this,” he added.*
