DAVAO CITY – A senior communist rebel leader and his wife were killed in a firefight with government troops in Agusan del Sur province in southern Philippines, officials announced Tuesday.
Officials said the fighting broke out in the village of Santa Maria in Trento town that killed Danny Huit, the committee secretary of the New People’s Army Guerrilla Front North. His wife, Naneth Catalino, also a member of the separatist rebel group, was slain while fighting alongside Huit.
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| Military photos released to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner show the bodies of rebel leader Danny Huit and wife, Naneth Catalino who are killed following a running gun battle in Agusan del Sur's Trento town on Monday, April 26, 2021. |
Col. Oliver Maquiling, commander of the 701st
Infantry Brigade, said members of the 67th Infantry Battalion
clashed with the couple after tracking them down in the village. Maguiling
said a villager tipped off the soldiers about the presence of the rebels in the
area. Huit and his wife tried to escape, but eventually were killed in the
running gun battle, adding, no soldiers were injured or killed in the Monday
clash.
He also lauded the relentless efforts of the troops
in securing the communities against threats posed by rebels. A military dossier on Huit said he had a
string of murder charges and was wanted in Davao Oriental and Davao de Oro
provinces.
Maj. Gen. Greg Almerol, chief of the Eastern
Mindanao Command, also praised the soldiers and the tipster for their
vigilance. “The sustained coordination between the troops and the people is the
key to our goal of building an insurgency-free and resilient community. Without
their firm support, we cannot fully uproot the evils brought by the communist
terrorist group,” he said.
He also urged rebels to surrender peacefully to the
government and take advantage of the amnesty being offered by the Duterte
administration. “We are calling the remaining members of the communist
terrorist group to yield to the government peacefully instead of fighting for a
cause that only sow terror and violence.”
“Choosing to die for a cause that has already
claimed many innocent lives is not a noble act. The blood of the people
you killed for your selfish political agenda will forever haunt you. History
will only absolve you if you choose to surrender peacefully and help the
country in building a peaceful and progressive Philippines,” Almerol said.
He also lauded the 10th Infantry
Battalion headed by Maj. Gen. Ernesto Torres to which the brigade and battalion
belong. For his part, Torres praised the soldiers for “standing by their
mandate of protecting the people from lawless elements” and echoed Almerol’s
call for rebels to surrender and avail the amnesty offer of the government.
Almerol and Torres were referring to the
government’s amnesty program called E-Clip, a
peace-building and social protection program that provides interventions and
financial aid to those who surrender so they live peacefully with their family
and become productive citizens of society.
The NPA has been waging a violent campaign for many decades now in an effort to put up a communist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)
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