Army finds Red arms cache
Government troops recovered more firearms and ammunition in Eastern Samar following a clash with suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels earlier this week, the military said on Saturday.
The 8th Infantry Division said soldiers from the 63rd Infantry Battalion found the weapons on Sept. 11 in Barangay Magtino, Llorente, during pursuit operations against the Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee’s (EVRPC) Sub-Regional Committee Sesame.
Recovered items included an R4A3 rifle, an M16 rifle, magazines, 158 rounds of live ammunition and personal belongings left behind by the fleeing rebels.
The discovery brings the total haul from the Sept. 8 encounter to four high-powered firearms, a .45-caliber pistol, 14 magazines and 449 rounds of ammunition.
Maj. Gen. Adonis Ariel Orio, commander of the 8th Infantry Division, said the recovery further reduced the group’s ability to operate in the region.
“Each firearm seized is one less weapon of terror in the hands of lawless elements,” Orio said. “The community’s denial of support for the insurgency tells us that the EVRPC has lost its grip in Eastern Visayas.”
Earlier this month, over 1,300 NPA rebels and their supporters were “neutralized” from Jan. 1 to Aug. 28 this year, according to the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said of the total 1,335 “neutralized” NPA rebels and supporters, 1,163 surrendered to the government, 77 were arrested and 95 were killed.
Padilla said 760 firearms and 360 antipersonnel mines were seized or surrendered by the rebels during the same period.
