BY SONY SUDARIA & OSCAR LEDESMA, MDNN News Bureau
IMPASUG-ONG, Bukidnon – The Philippine Airforce’s OV-10 Bronco Bombers conducted airstrikes yesterday and bombed sightings of the New People’s Army rebels in the hinterlands in Sitio Sayawan, Dumalaguing, Impasug-ong town, this province, the military reported.
The coordinated aerial attacks were centered on the remnants of slain NPA top leader Jorge Madlos alias “Ka Oris.” Madlos’ army scampered to different directions after a 30-minute firefight with the military’s elite forces on November 2.
At press time, the Fourth Infantry (Diamond) Division has not issued statements yet whether there were casualties on the rebels’ side after the aerial bombardments yesterday by the Airforce.
Meanwhile, in a press statement, the Army’s 4th Infantry Division (4ID) confirmed last October 30, the death of Jorge Madlos aka “Ka Oris”, the country’s notorious leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines during an encounter with government troops in Sito Sayawan, Dumalaguing, Impasug-ong, this province.
It can be recalled that on October 30th, the 403rd Infantry Brigade (IB) of the 4ID launched operations at around 12:30 a.m. in response to information provided by residents of Sitio Gabunan in Barangay Dumalaguing that armed groups believed to be members of the National Operations Command (NOC) of the CPP-NPA Komiteng Mindanao, Regional Operations Command, and Guerilla Front 89 of the North Central Mindanao Regional Command were conducting indoctrination in the area.
Government forces, according to Brig Gen Ferdinand Barandon, were composed of the 8IB, 1 Special Forces Battalion and 88IB have detected anti-personnel mines (APM).
“The CNTs’ (CPP-NPA terrorists) positions were fortified with APMs, hence, we can assume at that time that they were protecting their top leadership. In order to protect our troops, we called for close air support and delivered air strikes towards the CNT positions,” Barandon said.
Barandon said the final assault was conducted by the joint teams around 11:30 a.m. and they encountered more or less 30 combatants of the NPA.
A 30-minute skirmishes ensued and after the gunbattle the military cleared the area and found two dead bodies, one of which was that of Madlos. They also discovered one M14 rifle, one KG9 rifle, ammunition of different calibers, materiel, and assorted personal belongings.
Gen Brawner lauded the major accomplishments of the joint forces which led to the death of “Ka Oris” who has long been hunted by the government because of a string of cases filed against him,
The most wanted NPA commander in Mindanao, Madlos, 71, faced multiple criminal cases such as robbery with homicide, damage to properties, murder, and double frustrated murder.
“Ka Oris’ reign of terror has finally ended. Unfortunately, the consequences of his atrocities led to a tragic ending. Now, justice has been served for those innocent civilians and their communities he terrorized for several decades. His death could be the final blow for the eventual collapse of the communist terrorist group here,” Brawner concluded.
