Soldiers gun down 3 NPAs in Sultan Kudarat

COTABATO CITY - Three members of the New People’s Army collecting “revolutionary tax” from villagers were killed in a firefight with soldiers in Sultan Kudarat province Thursday.

Brig. Gen. Michael Santos, commander of the Army’s 603^rd Infantry Brigade, said Friday personnel of the 7^th Infantry Battalion also found four assault rifles, grenades and ammunition of various calibers in the scene of the encounter in Barangay Banali in Senator Ninoy Aquino town.

Senator Ninoy Aquino is an upland town in Sultan Kudarat province in Region 12.

Army units had killed 15 NPAs, six of them experts in fabrication of improvised explosive devices, in operations aided by local government units in different towns in the province since August 2022.

The cadaver of the three slain NPAs, initially identified by villagers as Elmer, Anton and Ronel, were immediately turned over to barangay leaders and municipal officials by members of the 7^th IB led by Lt. Col. Frederick Chicote.

The NPA fatalities were followers of Eusevio Cranzo, whose group has forcibly been collecting revolutionary tax from hapless villagers in hinterland barangays in Sultan Kudarat’s neighboring Senator Ninoy Aquino and Bagumbayan towns.

Cranzo is wanted for a string of heinous offenses, including multiple murder and cattle theft.

Santos told reporters Thursday’s encounter in Barangay Banali erupted when Cranzo and his men opened fire at soldiers dispatched to verify reports by villagers about their presence in the area, collecting money and food from farmers at gunpoint.

Barangay officials said Cranzo and his men scampered away after advancing soldiers felled his three followers with automatic gunfire.

Santos said soldiers recovered three M16 assault rifles, an M653 rifle, two fragmentation grenades and assorted ammunition beside the cadavers of Cranzo’s three followers.