CAMP EVANGELISTA, Cagayan De Oro City, Aug. 15 (PNA) – Pursuing government troopers recovered a dead body of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) along the rebel withdrawal route in the hinterlands of Misamis Oriental, the military reported Saturday.
Capt. Patrick Martinez, the spokesperson of the army’s 4th Infantry Division here, said that the relatives identified the slain NPA rebel as Jimmy Almonte Lindayo, 28, of Mat-I, Claveria, Misamis Oriental.
Martinez said the army troopers of the 58th Infantry Battalion retrieved Lindayo’s body in the hinterlands of Aposkahoy in Claveria, Misamis Oriental and turned over the body to the local government unit in Claveria so that the family could provide a decent burial to the slain NPA rebel.
“Unlike the rebels who simply leave the bodies of their comrades, the military has a policy to retrieve and turnover the bodies of the slain NPA rebels to the LGUs for the family to claim and provide a decent burial,” Martinez said.
“The truth is, the military also feels the pain of the loss of every rebel because the NPA rebels are also Filipinos. The military is not happy everytime an NPA rebel is killed in a useless war,” the army spokesperson said.
He said that the military condoled with the family of the young Lindayao and urged the NPA rebels to lay down their arms and live normal lives with their families and love ones.
The military recovered an M-16 rifle with an M 203 grenade launcher beside the body of Lindayao who sustained gunshot wounds on the right upper thigh and other parts of the body, Martinez said.
The firefight in the hinterland village of Aposkahoy in Claveria, Misamis Oriental occurred Thursday morning when the combat patrol of the army’s 58IB chanced on an encampment of about 30 fully armed men.
Martinez said that a 30-minute firefight ensued before the NPA withdrew to various directions, leaving 20 backpacks, handheld radios, solar panel, mobile phones, firearms and ammunitions, personal belongings and flash drives containing high valued intelligence information.
The military recovered the body of Lindayo on Friday as the pursuing government troopers engaged the NPA rebels in a running gun battle until Friday afternoon. (PNA)