2 soldiers wounded
in Calatrava ambush

Two soldiers were injured in an ambush yesterday by about 40 suspected New People's Army rebels in Sitio Lagoc, Brgy. Laga-an, Calatrava, Negros Occidental, the military said.

Injured were PFC Anacleto Jabonite of the 33 rd Division Reconnaissance Company and Cpl. Mamerto Alimoren of the 15 th Infantry Battalion.

Maj. Nathaniel Villasor, 303 rd Infantry Brigade Civil Military Operations Officer, said Jabonite and Alimoren are part of the Special Operations Team of the Philippine Army, and were on their way to Brgy. Menchaca, Calatrava, for SOT operations.

Despite being outnumbered, the Army's SOT operators sustained the gunbattle for more than an hour, prompting the rebel ambushers to withdraw in separate directions, Villasor said.

The injured soldiers were given initial medical treatment at the San Carlos City District Hospital, and will be transferred today to a private hospital in Bacolod City.

Twelve SOT teams were deployed by the 303 rd Infantry Brigade in the 12 hinterland barangays of Calatrava, Toboso and Escalante, to counter the organizing and expansion activities of the NPA.

Villasor said SOT operators immersed themselves with the populace for several months through dialogs and by listing their concerns and problems, which are being exploited by the CPP-NPA legal fronts, to bring them to the attention of concerned local government units and concerned agencies.

Before the ambush, the military had reported frequent sightings of large formations of rebels in the upland areas of Calatrava and neighboring areas.

Villasor said pursuit operations were still ongoing last night on the fleeing rebels and were backed up by two Air Force helicopter gunships from Mactan Air Base in Cebu.*GPB

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Drug charges readied
vs. 2 Bacolod women

Two women arrested for drug violations in Bacolod City Sunday, yesterday blamed poverty for going into illegal activities.

Nelma Delmo and Memar Deopita were arrested by Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency operatives in a stakeout operation in Purok Sigay, Brgy. 2, in the city, at about 2 p.m. Sunday, police records showed.

PDEA agent PO2 Alan Flores said the two were apprehended when their group saw Delmo giving a sachet of suspected shabu to a buyer and later also found another pack of the prohibited substance in a room at her house being rented by Deopita.

Recovered from Delmo and Deopita were two plastic sachets with suspected shabu, police reports said.

Delmo, 54, said she resorted to being a “runner” for drug dealers and their patrons because her monthly pension is not enough for her needs, especially after she and her family were transferred to an isolated relocation site in Vista Alegre, in Bacolod .

Deopita, 38, refused to comment on her case but said that nobody is looking after her six children now that she is detained as she and her husband are separated.

Flores said they will file charges against the two as soon as the results of the laboratory tests are released by their regional office.*PP

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6 civilian
informants get rewards

Six civilian informants yesterday received cash rewards from Mayor Eugenio Jose Lacson, for their help in the anti-drug campaign of the police in San Carlos City , Negros Occidental.

Supt. Harold Tuzon, San Carlos police chief, said timely information relayed by informants led to the arrest of 15 drug personalities, and the recovery of more than a kilo of dried marijuana leaves, as well as about five grams of suspected shabu, in the third quarter of 2007 alone.

Tuzon also attributed their successful anti-illegal drug campaign to the support of the San Carlos city government, which provides cash rewards to drug informants and logistical support to them.

Recently, a kilo of dried marijuana leaves was confiscated from an arrested drug peddler identified as Allen Aleduna in Brgy. Punao, San Carlos, police records showed.

Tuzon said the cash rewards to informants ranging from P1,500 to more than P5,000, depends on the volume of drugs confiscated and the notoriety of drug personalities arrested.

The police station of San Carlos topped the performance evaluation rating among 31 police stations in Negros Occidental, in the third quarter of 2007, police records also showed.

Pepito Marabe, alias Peping, the number one most-wanted drug personality, was arrested last week in Brgy. 5, San Carlos, by virtue of an arrest warrant for violation of Republic Act 9165, after more than four years of hiding from authorities.

A certain Ryan Abaring, 19, was also apprehended on Sunday by the police in Brgy.Zone 3, Talisay City , by virtue of a warrant of arrest issued by Judge Rodney Bolunia for robbery.

Supt. Thomas Joseph Martir, Talisay police chief, said Abaring whose bail of P24,000 was recommended by the court, is also linked to previous cases of robbery and cellphone-snatching incidents in the city.*GPB  

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Police Beat Title 4

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