By Glazyl M. Jopson
BACOLOD CITY – The Army’s 79th Infantry Battalion (IB) has thwarted an alleged extortion attempt by the New People’s Army (NPA) in Negros Occidental, just months before the May 12 midterm elections.
Capt. Dan Carlo Samoza, civil-military operations (CMO) officer of the 79th IB, said military troops clashed with suspected NPA rebels, including their finance officer, at Hacienda Paraiso, Barangay Caduha-an, Cadiz City, around midnight on Thursday.
Personal belongings and subversive documents with high intelligence value were recovered in a nipa hut, which serves as a temporary shelter for farmers in the area, Samoza said.
The encounter occurred while soldiers were conducting election-related monitoring to prevent the NPA from regrouping remnants of the dismantled Northern Negros Front (NNF) to extort permit-to-campaign fees in various areas.
“Our focused military operations continue against their attempts to exploit the election period to expand their extortion activities,” Samoza said.
He added that the Army is still assessing the recovered documents, emphasizing that such materials are usually held by key figures within the rebel group.
Troops tracked the nipa hut, and as they approached, they engaged in a five-minute firefight with the rebels.
Samoza speculated that the group’s finance officer was wounded in the clash, as bloodstains were found in the area. He confirmed that a pursuit operation is ongoing.
“This is a big blow to their extortion activities,” he added.
