3 soldiers killed in Davao City ambush - military

Three soldiers were killed while another was hurt in an ambush supposedly carried out by communist insurgents in Davao City over the weekend, the military said Sunday. The attack occurred at about 12 noon Saturday in the village of Barakatan in Toril district, said 10th Infantry Division spokesperson Captain Emmanuel Garcia. The fatalities were identified as Sgt. Sgt. Raul Candilao, Pfc. Jerry Iann Guling, and Pfc. Julius Vigilla, all of the 69th Infantry Battalion. They were out to buy food when suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels belonging to a certain Front Committee 54 staged the ambush, the military said. The NPA, the Communist Party of the Philippines armed wing, earlier took responsibility for the deaths of an election officer and four other soldiers on May 12 in Maragusan town in Compostela Valley province. On May 13, three soldiers and a militiaman were abducted by suspected NPA rebels when they were attending a party in Mawab town in Compostela Valley. The four remain in captivity as of Sunday. Garcia said Saturday’s ambush was as “reckless and treacherous" as the May 12 attack, vowing there would be no let-up against the suspects. “We cannot go on forever like this, we cannot let such despicable acts go on unpunished," he said. —Sophia Regina Dedace/VS, GMANews.TV