Alleged NPA rebel killed in Catanduanes clash

A suspected communist rebel was killed following a clash with government security forces in Catanduanes province Monday, a regional military spokesperson said. About 8 a.m., responding elements of the Army's 83rd Infantry Battalion engaged 30 New People's Army (NPA) rebels in Buenavista village in the town of Caramoan, said Major Harold Cabunoc of the Army's 9th Infantry Division. No government casualties were reported in the 45-minute firefight, Cabunoc said, adding that troops recovered six high-powered firearms left behind by the insurgents: three M16 rifles, two M14 rifles and a Carbine rifle. Cabunoc said the troops were deployed to the village upon receiving information that the rebels were conducting extortion activities in the area. The Catanduanes firefight came two weeks before the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, is to celebrate its 41st founding anniversary on March 29. In June 2006, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the military and police to crush the communist insurgency by the time she ends her term in June this year. Security officials have yet to give an assessment on the anti-insurgency campaign, as the President's deadline is fast approaching. — RSJ, GMANews.TV