DAVAO CITY – Four soldiers were wounded after they were ambushed by unidentified men in Davao Oriental, a military official said today (Aug. 13).
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr. said 1st Lt. Elizalde Calayo, Private First classmen Reymond Viernes and Alvin Jonas Militar, and Private Michael Dizon Jacinto, all of 67th Infantry Battalion, were on board a military vehicle on their way from a security mission in Brgy. Marikit, Baganga, Davao Oriental, yesterday afternoon when they were attacked.
A businessman was killed while his helper was wounded during a robbery in barangay Dangaan, Matanao, Davao del Sur yesterday morning.
Police identified the fatality as Larry Modeno Alpiz, 37, a domestic animal buyer.
The wounded was identified as Archie Alpiz Quiñones, 18. Both are residents of barangay Dangaan.
A gang member convicted of two counts of murder and sentenced to two reclusion perpetua escaped from the Davao City Jail in Maa on Tuesday night, using the heavy rain as cover.
City Jail Warden Ferdinand Pontillo ordered his men to retrieve Robert Canonio, 23, who is due for transfer to the Davao Prisons and Penal Farm (formerly Davao Penal Colony) after his conviction.
The battle over the demolition of the Nograles Park in Davao City and the resulting suspension of at least three city hall officials have gone full blast, at least legally.
Suspended city administrator Wendel Avisado, city engineer Jose Gestuveo Jr. and Drainage Maintenance Unit chief Yusop Jimlani have sought a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Court of Appeals against the suspension imposed on them by the Office of the Ombudsman for the alleged illegal demolition last October of Nograles Park, a national government-funded park built at the cost of P2 million in 2004.
DAVAO – Communist insurgents used civilian hostages as human shields during a raid on an army post in the southern Philippines, the military said Monday.
New People’s Army (NPA) rebels snatched a girl and two village officials near the town of Asuncion in Davao del Norte province Sunday and used them to get into a nearby army camp.
Once there, they raided the armoury, seizing rifles and hand-held radios, as well as briefly adding the detachment commander to their hostages, a military spokeswoman said.
She said troops were caught by surprise, adding they had been reluctant to open fire on the attackers for fear of harming the hostages.
“The rebels held two village officials (and) a child… and used them as a shield against pursuing troops,” said army spokeswoman Captain Rosa Maria Cristina Manuel.
All hostages were later released unharmed, she said.
The NPA is the armed unit of the Communist Party of the Philippines and has been waging a Maoist insurgency since 1969.
The raid came as the government said peace talks with the communists were to resume in October in Norway, four years after they were suspended.
