By: LIWAY MANANTAN YPARRAGUIRRE
Pangasinan Star Correspondent
ALCALA –Two persons were killed, one wounded and four others arrested in an encounter Wednesday morning between an armed group at barangay Pindangan here and joint elements of the Philippine Army 71st Infantry Brigade based in Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija and policemen from Alcala and Sto. Tomas Police Stations.
Police Supt. Noli G. Taliño, deputy provincial director for operation and provincial intelligence branch chief, said the armed men are believed to be members of “178 group”, one of the two groups of claimants in the 491-hectare agricultural and residential land here called the Pindangan Estate.
Chief Insp. Lenbell Fabia, Alcala police chief, identified the fatalities as Rogelio Montero and Felipe Galleno while a certain Armando Lacerna was wounded.
Captured were Rogelio Abaco y Galleno, Francisco Parel and Revino Galleno. They are all residents of barangay Pindangan Centro.
The government forces confiscated and recovered from the casualties an M16 Armalite rifle, an M14 rifle, an M1 Garand Springfield, an improvised M14 Rifle, a Remington shotgun, a home made shotgun and assorted ammunitions.
Fabia said they received reports a day before the encounter about men firing their guns in the area but that responding policemen saw nothing untoward in the sprawling estate on routine check.
They received an advice from Taliño early morning Wednesday that the 71st IB has an ongoing operation in barangay Pindangan in response to a report about the presence of armed men in the area.
Fabia, along with the police chief of Sto. Tomas town, were later instructed to form teams to augment the Army contingent. Elements from the 107th Provincial Mobile Group and from the Regional Mobile Group were also sent in.
The encounter area was described as an open field with a fenced nipa hut in the middle of the field.
Fabia said they were fired upon by unidentified men while conducting foot patrol in the area, thus, they engage them in a shootout.The firefight started at about 9a.m., the area was cleared and secured at about 1 pm, same day.
Taliño said the firefight lasted long because the armed men were at a vantage point as they were inside the nipa hut compound in the open field and could readily see the
incoming government troops. The police and army contingent, however, were able to move closer slowly while crawling or taking cover behind trees.
The government troops said the suspects refused to surrender even after appeals to do so were shouted at them.
“Sniping na ang nangyari noong bandang huli,” Talino said, adding that the armed men in the hut knew who they were firing at as the soldiers and policemen were in camouflage uniform.
“The earlier captured suspects were instructed to call out to their holed-up companions to ask them to surrender but even they were fired upon,” Talino said, narrating the encounter.
