Soldiers, NPAs clash in Leyte legitimate, says Tutaan
By Mario J. Mallari 11/19/2010The battalion commander of the Army unit engaged in supposed firefight with New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Leyte last Sunday that led to the killing of a top notch botanist and two other civilians yesterday maintained there was legitimate encounter with the communists.
Lt. Col. Federico Tutaan, commander of the Army’s 19th Infantry Battalion (IB), said his men were dispatched after receiving reports of the presence of more or less 30 NPA rebels in Barangay Lim-ao, Kananga town.
“We made operations plans and orders and so my men went there and there was an encounter at that particular place,” said Tutaan.
During subsequent search and clearing operations in the area, Tutaan said the military operatives discovered that there were civilians in the area, one of them is Leonardo Co, who is a top-notch botanist and consultant of Lopez-owned Energy Development Corp. (EDC), who were conducting survey.
Unfortunately, two civilians, including Co, were recovered dead while another one expired at a hospital. Two other civilians survived the incident..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20101119nat1.html
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