TACLOBAN CITY – Government troops in Northern Samar thanked rebel returnees for providing vital information that led to the recent discovery of a burial ground of the New People’s Army (NPA) in the province.
Maj. Edwin Oloan, Philippine National Police 1st Northern Samar Provincial Mobile Force Company commander, said police and soldiers have been coordinating with rebel returnees to locate the grave of other NPA members who died in clashes with government troops.
“Terrorism is a threat to peace, security, prosperity, and people. Let us all be united in exterminating violence, I encouraged other civilians to help in giving more information to eradicate terrorism in the province,” Oloan said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
On July 10, a composite team of the police and the military discovered the NPA’s burial ground upland E. Duran village in Bobon, Northern Samar.
Authorities identified one of the remains as Emma Termo, an active member of the Communist NPA Terrorists (CNT) from Calbayog City.
“A reliable information given by a rebel returnee revealed that sometime in the year 2009, CNT members buried the dead body of Termo who died during an encounter incident in E. Duran,” Oloan said.
Locals identified the three other bodies as NPA members Cesar Bantasan who died of natural death, and a certain Menang Nordan and her child, who both died while the former was giving birth.
The skeletal remains and clothing were brought to the Northern Samar Provincial Crime Laboratory for proper documentation and processing and were given a decent burial afterward.
The Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
(GERICO SABALZA/PNA)
