BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The casualty in Wednesday’s encounter between government forces and the New People’s Army (NPA) in Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental has been identified on Friday morning.
Anthony “Val” Ariola was a resident of Barangay Buenavista, Himamaylan City, according to the Philippine Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade (303IB).
He was positively identified by a kin at Soledad Funeral Homes where his body was brought.
Ariola was a member of the NPA’’s Central Negros 2, according to the 303IB.
He was killed in the encounter by soldiers from the 94th Infantry Battalion (94IB) in Sitio Bulasot, Barangay Buenavista following a tip off from local residents.
The rebels were believed to be extorting from residents food and other valuables.
The 94IB commander, Lieutenant Colonel Van Donald Almonte, branded the NPA rebels in the area as “roving bandits”./PN
