Armed clashes erupted anew between the two rival communist rebel factions in Calatrava, Negros Occidental, causing alleged injuries to scores of New People's Army rebels, while an injured person claiming to be a member of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade was rushed to a hospital in Silay City with gunshot wounds, the police said.

RPA spokesman Victorino Sumulong said numerous NPA fighters were injured yesterday in a 30-minute gunbattle between the RPA-ABB and NPA fighters in Sitio Tinibyangan, Brgy. Minapasok, Calatrava. The encounter took place almost a week after rival communist groups also clashed in Brgy. Menchaca, Calatrava on July 31, and also led to the injury of Adelaida Simeon, a civilian, who was caught in a crossfire, police investigations showed.

A source within the CPP-NPA Negros yesterday claimed the military was bombing in the area and that three civilians, not NPA fighters, were injured.

Senior Supt. Charles Calima, provincial police director of Negros Occidental, said only one was confirmed injured in the encounter, and he was rushed to the Sagay District Hospital, and later transferred to the Jose Locsin Memorial Provincial Hospital in Silay. He was identified by the police as Calixto Ubas, 37, of Sitio Tinibyangan, Brgy. Minapasok, Calatrava.

Supt. Celestino Guara, Silay police chief, said Ubas who was hit in the left thigh and lower abdomen, claimed to be a member of the RPA-ABB.

NOT RPA-ABB MEMBER

Calima, however, said RPA-ABB chief Carapali Lualhati denied that Ubas is a member of their group, and said that none of their fighters was injured in an encounter with an estimated 35 NPA rebels.

Lualhati said Ubas owns a house adjacent to the unoccupied hut where the NPA fighters had stayed, shortly before the encounter. Soldiers who scoured the encounter site recovered an M-16 assault rifle and nine combat packs left behind by the fleeing NPA fighters, Lt. Col. Jess Manangquil, 11th Infantry Battalion commander, said.

RICE AS REVOLUTIONARY TAX

Sumulong said Tinibyangan residents were unhappy with the NPA who had been taking rice from them as a form of revolutionary tax.

He further claimed that scores of NPA fighters were also injured in an encounter with RPA-ABB troopers in Brgy. Menchaca, Calatrava on July 31, as indicated by bloodstains on their trail of their withdrawal.

The National Democratic Front-Negros had earlier accused the RPA-ABB, in coordination with the military, of sowing terror among the people in the upper barangays of Calatrava and adjacent Toboso town.

Sumulong said the claim of Ka Frank Fernandez that the July 31 incident was not an encounter, but indiscriminate firing by the RPA-ABB, is a lie.

He also denied accusations of Fernandez that the RPA-ABB is participating in the government counter-insurgency campaign.

DESPERATE MOVE

"This is a desperate move of the CPP-NPA to isolate the RPA-ABB that continue to grow in strength and support from the masses as it campaigns for peace and progress," Sumulong said.

Police investigations also showed that about 20 NPA guerillas also strafed the residence of CAFGU member Eduardo Laguna on July 29 in Sitio Bato-Bato, Brgy. Tabun-ak, Toboso, because he refused to rejoin their group, town police chief Romeo Leyte said.

In truth, Sumulong alleged, it is the CPP-NPA that is engaging in terroristic and counter revolutionary activities against the masses.

The RPA-ABB, a breakaway rebel group formed by former NPA leaders Arturo Tabara and Nilo de la Cruz, entered into peace negotiations with the government in year 2000.*GPB/CPG

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