SALLAPADAN, Abra – A member of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) died while another was injured after heavily armed members of the New Peoples Army (NPA) attacked their detachment at Sitio Mong-ol, Barangay Maguyepyep, here, Thursday morning.
Police Brig. Gen. Israel Efraim Dickson, regional director of the Police Regional Office (PRO) in the Cordillera, identified the fatality as Dandy Wacguisan from Lingey, Bucloc, Abra while he named his injured colleague as Gordon Gallao of Sitio Callaban, Barangay Bazar, Sallapadan, Abra.
The police official disclosed that the CAFGU members were inside their detachment when the still undetermined number of communist rebels attacked them that resulted to an ongoing running gun battle between the government forces and the fleeing rebels.
Concerned residents in the area claimed that reinforcement of the CAFGU members took some time to arrive as the gun battle had already exceeded over two hours but no signs of police or military augmentation arrived in the area forcing the surviving CAFGU members to stand their ground against the heavily armed rebels.
Dickson is still awaiting the reports on the ground on the latest development on the attack done by the communist rebels on one of the CAFGU detachments based in the remote village of the municipality.
He added that reinforcement troops were already deployed in strategic areas to block the escape route of the rebels who staged the attack in broad daylight.
By Dexter A. See
