By FROILAN GALLARDO
Special Correspondent .
THE 4th Infantry Division has sent a team of Army investigators to look into possible security lapses leading to the New People’s Army attack on the military detachment in Barangay New Tubigon, Sibagat town, Agusan del Sur, on Wednesday.
Maj. Gen. Ronald Villanueva, commanding general of the 4th Infantry Division, said a Board of Inquiry team were to leave for Sibagat yesterday to investigate the incident.
“There are so many questions that are left unanswered. The team will find out what really happened,” Villanueva said.
The rebels, taking advantage of inclement weather Wednesday dawn, sneaked undetected into the New Tubigon military detachment and took captive two soldiers and 12 militiamen
The NPA northeastern Mindanao region said the NPA raid on the military detachment, located some 10 kilometers from Sibagat town, was carried out without a single shot fired.
“Fourteen soldiers and militiamen have been captured and are being treated as POWs (prisoners of war). We will treat them accordingly,” a NPA spokesperson told RMN-DxBC in Butuan City.
She said the captured soldiers and militiamen were being treated as prisoners of war.
AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Benjamin Madrigal said the weather at the New Tubigon military detachment was rainy which was taken advantage by the rebels.
“Most of the troops were in their bunkers and did not notice the rebels because of the rain,” Madrigal told the Mindanao Gold Star Daily by phone.
A police report identified the captured soldiers as Corporal Eric Manangan and Private First Class Darlino Carino of the 3rd Special Forces Battalion.
The names of the militiamen are not available as of presstime.
The same police report said the rebels took 17 M16 rifles; four M14 rifles; two M4 rifles; and a M60 machinegun.
The rebels also took a Harris radio and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
Special Forces teams and soldiers from nearby battalions are now pursuing the rebels who have fled to the hinterlands with their captives
The attack came a day after President Duterte ordered the Armed Forces and National Police to stop accepting NPA rebels who wish to surrender and instead “to kill them all.”
Duterte also ordered the “hamletting” of lumad villages for their protection after expressing frustration with the peace talks with the National Democratic Front.
The order came after NPA rebels attack the police station in Magallanes town, Sorsogon wounding a policeman and a civilian last Monday.
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