BACOLOD City – “Stop this senseless killing.”
This was the statement of Colonel Romeo Baleros, Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office director, denouncing on Friday what he called the barbaric and inhumane acts of the New People’s Army after four police officers died in an ambush allegedly staged by the local rebels in Barangay Mabato, Ayungon, Negros Occidental.
“These terrorists, who have nothing in mind but to create fear among the people, must heed to the call to stop on this senseless loss of lives which would only result in grief and sorrow,” the provincial police chief added.
Baleros also expressed his deepest sympathies to the families of their comrades.
On Thursday at around 2:30 p.m., Patrolmans Raffy Callo, Roel Cabellon, Marquino de Leon and Corporal Relebert Beronio succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds.
The four cops were on their way to a detachment in Sitio Nabinca, Ayungon.
The ambush of the policemen came five days after an NPA fighter was killed during the rebels’ encounter with troops of the 62nd Infantry Battalion at the border of Carol-an, Kabankalan City in Negros Occidental and Upper Carol-an, also in Ayungon. (With a report from PNA/PN)
