By Nora Soriño
Iligan City Bureau Chief .
Iligan City — Communist guerrillas operating in the hinterlands of this city confirmed that they had an armed encounter with government troops recently.
“There really was an encounter,” Ka Malem Mabini, spokesperson of the New People’s Army -North Central Mindanao told reporters yesterday.
He added that there were two casualties on the part of the military. However, he did not say whether they sustained casualties on their part.
Mabini denied that they slaughtered two pigs in Barangay Mainit.
“This is just a psy war on the part of the military,” he said. Whenever they do it, he said, it would have been with the consent of the owners and they would have been properly paid for it.
Asked whether it was true that there were about 400 of them, Mabini did not outrightly deny it but said there were 25 to 30 of them in each platoon.
To recall, two weeks ago, the city government through city information officer Jose Pantoja said there was a clash between the Army and the New Peoples Army in barangays Mainit and Rogongon.
The armed men numbered around 400, he said. There were 270 families that had fled their homes, Pantoja added.
There is “restlessness” on the part of the inhabitants here, Mabini said as the government is unable to do something about their plight.
Problems with regard to their lands and their livelihoods.
He said they were in the area because the people asked their help.
“If the government is really bent on making peace,” Mabini added, “the government led by President Duterte should talk peace with them.”
Disclaimer
Mindanao Gold Star Daily holds the copyrights of all articles and photos in perpetuity. Any unauthorized reproduction in any platform, electronic and hardcopy, shall be liable for copyright infringement under the Intellectual Property Rights Law of the Philippines.
