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[av_heading heading=’Cops in NegOr NPA ambush lose guns ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY CYRUS GARDE
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BACOLOD City – The firearms of the six policemen who died in an ambush in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental were missing.
They were believed taken by the suspected New People’s Army rebels who attacked them in Barangay Magsaysay on Friday.
The officers lost six M16s, six .9mm pistols and three .45 pistols. Bullets placed in their bandoliers were missing, too.
Killed were Superintendent Arnel Arpon, Guihulngan City police chief; Police Officers 2 Alfredo Dunque and Alvin Bolandres; Police Officer 3 Teovic Agusto; Senior Police Officer 2 Nicasio Tabilon; and Senior Police Officer 1 Jesael Ancheta.
They were supposed to respond to a call for assistance made by Guihulngan City councilor Edison Dela Rita. He was ambushed in the barangay and his driver, Michael Jambalos, was killed.
A team of about 15 policemen led by Arpon responded on board a Mahindra police patrol vehicle, with some on board motorcycles, around 10 a.m. on July 21.
But upon reaching Sitio Masid-e, about 15 kilometers up in the mountains from the city proper, they were met by gunfire.
Arpon, a son of a retired police inspector, was a native of Catarman, Northern Samar.
He was leading the Guihulngan police for three months already until his death. He replaced Superintendent D’Artagnan Katalbas Jr.
Arpon was a licensed civil and geodetic engineer before joining the Philippine National Police Academy and graduating in 1998.
Aside from his stint as a United Nations peacemaker in Lebanon, he also previously led the police stations in Bago, Cadiz, Escalante, and Victorias cities in Negros Occidental.
Arpon had three children with wife Analyn, the eldest is 17 years old./PN
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