By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
A police officer died, while two others were seriously wounded after a police patrol vehicle was ambushed by alleged members of the New People’s Army (NPA) at Barangay Minapasuk in Negros Occidental’s Calatrava town yesterday morning.
Authorities identified the fatality as Police Corporal Jayme Nuñez of the Calatrava Municipal Police Station, while the wounded were deputy town police chief, Police Captain Jesus Alba and Corporal Dennis Nasis.
A police report said at 9:40 a.m., 10 town police personnel with troops from the Philippine National Police mobile forces and the Philippine Army’s 79th Infantry Battalion, were traveling to Sitio Icogan to serve a warrant of arrest to NPA members Darry Dayawan and Charity Amacan.
Minapasuk Kagawad Jason Balansag told members of the media yesterday, they were inside the official vehicle of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, while the patrol car was the last vehicle in the convoy.
At 10:20 a.m., the authorities encountered a group of armed men and engaged them in a firefight.
Balansag said the village officials immediately dismounted their vehicles and took cover as police and the alleged NPA members exchanged fire.
The patrol car may have rolled on to a landmine allegedly planted by the NPA.
Balansag said they were forced to flee to a safer spot around 800 meters from the encounter site.
After the gunfight, he asked a resident if they could pass by the ambush site to determine if there were any more armed individuals in the area.
When they heard that the encounter site was cleared, they immediately went back to help the wounded police officers.
According to Balansag, Nuñez suffered a gunshot wound to the neck and all over his body.
Alba sustained a gunshot wound to the leg, while Nasis had gunshot wounds to the shoulder and abdomen.
They were rushed to the hospital for treatment.
One of the personnel was transferred to a private hospital in Bacolod City after being stabilized.
Lt. Colonel Joem Malong, Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office deputy director for operations, said Alba and Nasis, who are being treated in separate hospitals, are already out of danger.
“This is the saddest day for us because we have one casualty. We also have two wounded personnel,” Malong said in a radio interview.
He added that Nuñez’s family have already been informed about the incident and have proceeded to the police station./With reports from PNA / DGB, WDJ