Assassin of soldier
killed in encounter

A suspected member of the New People’s Army reported by civilians to be the executioner of an Army soldier, was also killed Saturday in an encounter with 61st Infantry Battalion troopers in Bingawan town in Iloilo.

Maj. John Andrada, commanding officer of the 3rd Civil Military Operations Battalion, said the slain rebel, identified as a certain Aren Canonero, alias Pinoy, was identified by witnesses as the one who had shot Army Cpl. Joebert Glindro on March 12 in Tapaz, Capiz.

He added that Canonero, son of the late NPA leader with the alias of Bitas, also served as the logistics officer of Platoon 4, Central Front Committee of the Komiteng Rehiyonal Panay.

Before he was killed, Glindro was negotiating for the surrender of an active NPA member operating in Tapaz, Capiz, Andrada said.

Military records show that a group of 61st IB soldiers, who used to be assigned in southern Negros, led by Corporal Randy Lingamen, encountered about 15 armed rebels, who were establishing an ambush position in Brgy. Quinar-upan, Bingawan, Iloilo.

Andrada said the running gunbattle lasted for almost 20 minutes and the rebels scampered in various directions, leaving behind the body of their slain comrade, a homemade pistolized shotgun, and a backpack containing pictures and subversive documents.

He attributed the encounter and the death of Glindro’s executioner to the timely information being relayed by civilians to the 61st IB.

“This only goes to show that an insurgency-free community is very attainable if the people and the government work together,” Andrada said.*GPB

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LOOSE GUN
Filipino-Norwegian
apprehended

A Filipino-Norwegian national has been detained at the police lock-up cell in Pontevedra, Negros Occidental, after his arrest Thursday for illegal possession of firearms.

Insp. Vanessa Gayle Sonoy, Pontevedra police chief, said the arrest of Jingle Ricardo Sande yielded an unlicensed US Springfield .45 caliber pistol with a magazine containing seven rounds of ammunition.

In her report to Senior Supt. Allan Guisihan, police provincial director of Negros Occidental, Sonoy said Sande was under the influence of liquor, when he was arrested by a combined team of Pontevedra policemen, traffic enforcers and Bantay Bayan members, headed by Kagawad Lorna Arnaiz.

A suspect in a frustrated murder case was also apprehended in Brgy. Mambulac, Silay City, by virtue of an arrest warrant issued by Judge Dyna Doll Chiongson-Trocio.

Supt. Rosauro Francisco, Silay police officer-in-charge, said Trocio has recommended bail of P200,000 for arrested suspect Michael Divinagracia, who is now also in jail.*GPB

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PDEA agents collar
‘drug peddler’

The alleged drug peddler arrested by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency last week is also a suspect in the failed attempt on the lives of two brothers in Talisay City, Negros Occidental, last year, Police Officer 2 Benjamin Jamora said yesterday.

Jamora, warrant and subpoena officer of Police Station 2 in Bacolod City, said they served the arrest warrants for frustrated and attempted homicide charges issued by Municipal Trial Courts in Cities Judge Antonio Garinganao to Arnel Derla Gomez, “alias Mark Derla,” of Purok Lampirong in Brgy. 2, yesterday.

Jamora said Gomez stabbed the victims in Filipina Baybay in Talisay City on Jan. 1, 2010.

Gomez was arrested together with his neighbor, Jover Gulaja, at about 1:15 p.m. when he handed an elongated sachet of suspected shabu, in exchange for P500, to one of their agents, who acted as a poseur-buyer.

Gomez is now detained at Police Station 2 and will be brought to the Bacolod City Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.*APN

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