CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Government forces, backed by air assets,engaged in a fire fight with members of the New People’s Army (NPA) that started shortly after midnight Tuesday, March 4, in the mountains of Bukidnon.
Clashes are ongoing as of post time at noon on Tuesday.
An alert issued by the 4th Infantry Division in Camp Evangelista, Cagayan de Oro, advised civilians in the hinterlands of Cabanglasan, Bukidnon to move to safer grounds as fighter jets of the Philippine Air Force provided air support to the military’s ground forces.
PH Air Force fighter jet goes missing, search on
In a message, army spokesperson Lt. Col. Francisco Garello, Jr. said that the armed encounter occurred past midnight Tuesday morning that escalated into an on-going running gun battle.
The alert notice did not mention casualties from both sides.
Fighter jet missing
The Philippine Air Force, meanwhile, released a statement regarding the FA50 aircraft that was reported missing before dawn on Tuesday.
“On March 4, 2025, an FA-50 fighter jet went missing during a tactical night operations” the statement said.
“The aircraft lost communication with the rest of the flight involved in the mission minutes before reaching the target area. The other aircraft repeatedly attempted to re-establish contact with the missing aircraft until their return to Mactan, Cebu.”
The PAF is conducting extensive and thorough search operations, utilizing all available resources, to locate the missing jet fighter aircraft at post time.
