In a “people’s war bulletin” sent to media yesterday, the NPA said the three policemen belonged to the 418th mobile group of the Philippine National Police.
The bulletin identified only the police group’s team officer Inspector Rex Cuntapay among the three now under NPA custody.
It said that the three cops “surrendered” to the NPA’s Narciso Antazo Aramil Command based in Rizal province which had ambushed the police group in Barangay Macabud in Rodriquez and that its guerillas seized 12 firearms from the police during the incident.
The cops were reportedly responding to reports that the NPA had torched a dump truck in the area at about noon on the same day of the ambush, the bulletin said.
“In the ambush, policeman Rexon Aquino was killed and two others were injured. The latter were promptly given medical attention by the Red fighters who also facilitated their transfer to a nearby hospital for further treatment,” the NPA said.
It also reported that “three other policemen, headed by their team officer Inspector Rex Cuntapay, immediately surrendered to the Red fighters and were taken as prisoners of war”.
The NPA bulletin did not give more details.
Only the other day, the NPA released 1Lt. Vicente Cammayo to the Red Cross and a Catholic priest in the hinterlands of Sitio Lago in BArangay Kauswagan in Loreto, Agusan del Sur. He was captured by the rebels last Nov. 7 in Monkayo in Compostela Valley.
Earlier, the NPA announced Cammayo would be released for “humanitarian reasons”, as he had a pregnant wife. But the rebels also demanded that military offensive in the area be halted.
