CPP denies encounter

MANILA - Five alleged members of the communist New People's Army (NPA), including an activist and a lumad teacher, were killed in an encounter with government troops in New Bataan town in Davao de Oro in Thursday morning, the military said.

In a report released by the 10th Infantry Division, the fatalities were identified as alias Rain, alias Chad, a certain alias Daday and two still unidentified males.

The individuals allegedly withdrew southwards after a 15-minute firefight, the military said.

They added that the suspects left an M653 rifle, a caliber .45 pistol, a hand grenade, an anti-personnel mine, assorted food supplies, and personal belongings.

The Communist Party of the Philippines, in a tweet, denied that an encounter happened in New Bataan town in the said province.

Marco Valbuena, chief information officer of the CPP, said this was told to them by the local unit of the NPA in the area.

"The AFP's 'encounter' claim is an outright lie. This would not be the first time," said Valbuena.

"Chad" was among the personalities arrested February last year in a Bakwit school located in San Carlos University – Talamban Campus in Cebu City for alleged trafficking of Indigenous People from Talaingod, Davao del Norte.

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He was later released together with 6 others following the decision of the court in Cebu.

"Chad" graduated cum laude from UP Diliman with a degree of Bachelor of Computer Science.

After his college days, he volunteered as a Mathematics teacher in the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural Development (ALCADEV) in Lianga, Surigao del Sur, and later volunteered for the Bakwit School in Cebu.

Meanwhile, according to the 10th Infantry Division, "Rain" graduated from Liceo de Tagum and was also a volunteer teacher in Community Technical College of Southern Mindanao (CTCSM) in Barangay Lapu-lapu, Maco, Davao de Oro. - with a report from Hernel Tocmo