FORT MAGSASAY, Nueva Ecija, –Troops of the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Battalion discovered an arms cache reportedly belonging to communist rebels in the Tarlac-Zambales area at Sitio Tala, Barangay Burgos, San Jose, Tarlac on May 30.
The discovery was based on a tip from a concerned citizen from a nearby community.
Earlier, a series of focused military operations were conducted by the unit and the Joint Task Group Agila of the 703rd Infantry Brigade starting in the first quarter of 2022 in Tarlac, Zambales and Pangasinan “purposely to dismantle the said terrorist group which forced them to abandon their traditional hideouts, reorganize into smaller groups and hide their equipment to evade the government forces.”
Lt. Col. Jeszer M Bautista, commanding officer of the 3rd MIB credited the discovery of the arms cache to “the commitment of the populace to end the local communist armed conflict in their community.”
“Ang ating pagkakatuklas sa kinaroroonan ng mga armas na ito ay nagpapatunay lamang na ang ating mga kababayan ay naghahangad na protektahan ang kanilang komunidad laban sa mga terorista sa pamamagitan ng pagre-report sa ating mga kasundaluhan ng kinaroroonan ng mga terorista maging ang kanilang mga kagamitan. Nagpapatunay lamang ito na wala nang sumusuporta at malapit na nating magapi ang mga terorista,” said Bautista.
Among the recovered firearms and ammo were one Galil rifle, two M16 rifles, one M203 grenade launcher, one shotgun, one long magazine for Galil, four short magazines for M16, 71 pieces of 5.56mm ammunition, and 18 pieces of 40x46mm grenade launcher ammunition.
