By Marlon Ramos
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 02:28pm (Mla time) 08/21/2007
CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna -- Two children, 13 and 7, and a member of an anti-insurgency police unit were killed while three other persons were critically wounded when suspected communist rebels ambushed a police vehicle in Taytay town, Palawan afternoon, police said Friday.
Senior Superintendent Dennis Peña, Palawan police director, identified the casualties as Police Officer 3 Saturnino Lazo, Jennifer Cortez, 13, and her sister Anne-anne.
Wounded were Police Officer 1 Walter Gapuz, the children’s mother Nilda Cortez, and another sister, Beverly, 9.
Ludegario Cortez, the children’s father, escaped unscathed.
Cortez and family had hitched a ride with the policemen before the ambush.
Peña said two other policemen who were earlier reported missing have surfaced and have reported to their unit, the 413rd Provincial Police Mobile Group (PPMG), also in Taytay town.
Police Officers 2 Johnnyver Abanto and Edgardo Sanchez were found by village officials in a ravine near the ambush site.
“Apparently, my men hid and stayed there until they were found by the barangay [village] officials. They then immediately went to a nearby detachment of the Philippine Marines in Taytay,” he said in a mobile phone interview with the Inquirer.
Peña condemned the attack, saying it only proved the real character of the New People’s Army (NPA).
He also said that the band of rebels who staged the ambuscade could have been composed of young NPA fighters “as shown by what they did.”
He said it was uncommon for the NPA rebels to fire at government troops if it endangered a nearby civilian population.
Peña also said it was “uncharacteristic” for the guerrillas not to wipe out their targets when they are able to control the higher ground in an ambush site.
The rebels also did not gather the assault rifles of the slain and wounded police officers.
Peña said that before the attack, the policemen had driven to Barangay Calauag to check on a report that residents had found an abandoned motorcycle in the area. When they arrived in the village, they located the motorcycle and loaded it into their police vehicle.
On their way back to their detachment, the policemen chanced upon Cortez and his family, who asked to be given a ride to a nearby village. But before the family could reach their destination, around 15 to 20 suspected communist rebels fired at the police vehicle.
Peña said Anne-anne was hit on the head and killed instantly.
“The girl was beyond recognition as bullets literally shattered her head,” he said.
Peña said Lazo was able to fire back at the rebels despite his bullet wounds.
A few minutes later, the rebels retreated, leaving behind the firearms of the slain policemen, he added.
Peña said the police had already airlifted the wounded to a hospital in Puerto Princesa City.
He said they are still investigating if the motorcycle was intentionally abandoned in the area by the NPA as part of their plan to attack the government troops.
He also said that the village official who supposedly phoned the police detachment to report the discovery of the abandoned motorcycle denied that he had called for police assistance.
“It could be part of the plot of the NPA to ambush our policemen,” Peña said.
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