The three Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) fighters slain during a clash in Negros Occidental’s Kabankalan City on Sunday, February 5 were deceived to join the armed struggle which they eventually abandoned in their deaths, a Philippine Army official said yesterday.

“They were deceptively recruited for the ideology they did not even understand. It paints the true color of the CPP-NPA as an inhumane and heartless terrorist group,” Colonel Orlando Edralin, commander of 303rd Infantry Brigade (IBde) based in the province’s Murcia town, said in a statement.

Killed on the second day of the weekend clashes with troops of 94th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Oringao were Jomarie “Junjun/Mark” Callet, 42 years old, of Barangay Tanlad in Negros Oriental’s Tayasan town; Joemarie Calumba, 40 years old, of Kabankalan City’s Barangay Oringao; and Diomedes Lasida, 47 years old, of Ilog town’s Barangay Pinggot.

Callet and Lasida were the squad and vice squad leaders, respectively, of Sentro De Grabedad Platoon of the NPA’s Central Negros 2-Komiteng Rehiyon Negros, while Calumba was a squad member.

The body of Callet was already claimed by his wife, the police said.

Meanwhile, the 303IBde said, in a report, the troops recovered a KG9 submachine gun with six rounds of ammunition, an M14 rifle, .38-caliber and .45-caliber pistols as well as one long and two short M16 magazines during the clearing operation.

They also found a solar panel, six backpacks, five pairs of rain boots, assorted medical paraphernalia, personal belongings and subversive documents. (PNA)