COMMUNIST guerrillas on Monday killed a police officer and three Army soldiers in separate ambushes in Legazpi City, and North Cotabato, on Monday. 

Supt. Narciso Guarin, deputy chief of the National Police’s Regional Human Resources Development Division, died instantly from multiple gunshot wounds he sustained in the head and body, Chief Insp. Rolando Esguerra, the city police chief, said.

Guarin was on his way to Camp Gen. Simeon Ola, headquarters of the Bicol police, when he was waylaid by at least five guerrillas armed with assault rifles. 

The incident took place at about 6:30 a.m. some 50 meters from the victim’s residence in barangay Estanza, Legazpi City, Esguerra said.

In North Cotabato, New People’s Army (NPA) ambushed also on Monday morning two truckloads of Army troops, killing three soldiers and wounding 20 others, the police said.

The soldiers, who were onboard two six-by-six trucks, were waylaid at barangay Ilustre, President Roxas town at about 5:15 a.m., Chief Supt. Felizardo Serapio, Central Mindanao police commander, said.

Serapio identified the killed Army personnel only as Cpls. Balibago and Caballero and Private First Class Dalumban.

He said members of the President Roxas and Antipas police stations have joined members of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division in the pursuit operations.

Monday morning’s ambushes prompted Director General Avelino Razon Jr., National Police chief, to order policemen to exercise caution and be wary against attacks by NPA rebels.

In particular, Razon described the Guarin ambush, as a “sparrow-like operation.”

He ordered Director Silverio Alarcio Jr., National Police operations chief, to disseminate warnings to all members of the force to be on guard against attacks and assassinations by insurgents.

Razon said the killing of Guarin may be a part of the resurgent operations of the NPA against the police and the military.

He also ordered policemen to build and maintain strong coordination with local leaders and residents in their areas of responsibility.

Also, Razon ordered the Bulacan Provincial Police Office to immediately resolve the killing of former Calumpit, Bulacan mayor Monching Pagdanganan.

He told Senior Supt. Allen Bantolo, Bulacan police chief, to “leave no stone unturned” in the investigation into the Sunday ambush in barangay Canizo in the same town.

Guarin, 45, was a member of the Philippine National Police Academy Class 1989.

Quoting witnesses, Esguerra said two of the five assailants who were onboard a motorcycle fired the first salvo of gunfire from an M-16 rifle on the victim.

Slumped dying on the steering wheel, the other three assailants approached Guarin’s car and fired at him on the head at close range to make sure he was dead. His caliber .45 service firearm was taken by the gunmen.

Guarin was a widower and left two daughters aged 19 and 10 and a 13-year-old son.

During his stint as Legazpi City police chief, Guarin was credited with successful operations against criminality and insurgency.

Camp Gen. Simeon Ola officials said Guarin had been warned to abandon his residence following death threats he has been receiving from the NPA.

Barangay Estanza is a residential area in the mountains a kilometer away from the Legazpi City police headquarters.

Pursuing troops recovered one of the motorcycles used by the armed men left in nearby barangay Taysan, where the fleeing gunmen fled.

In an official statement released to Camp Aguinaldo reporters, Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres, however, said other than the three killed, only three other soldiers were wounded.

Torres said troops from Charlie Company of the 39th Infantry Battalion, which is under the 10th Infantry Division, were also attacked with landmines by the rebels.

He said though surprised, the soldiers managed to return fire, wounding several rebels as proven by the presence of bloodstains in their routes of withdrawal.

In another statement, the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command said the insurgents who carried out the attack were members of the NPA’s Guerrilla Front 53, which is based in Arakan Valley in North Cotabato. (With M. de Guzman, M. Ugalde and D. Calleja)

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MILITANT legislators opposed the government’s plan to take over the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), branding it as a political move to deprive the Lopezes of their prime economic holding, in retaliation for the latter’s perceived support, through its influential media outfit ABS-CBN network, of popular opposition to the administration.

A LARGE transport group is threatening to go on strike this month over the spiraling price of fuel and to press for the junking of the 12-percent expanded value-added tax (E-VAT) on oil products.

FOLLOWING the Congress’s ratification of the affordable-medicines law last week, a health official on Monday estimated access to cheaper medicines will be available by the end of the year.

THE minority in the House of Representatives said Monday that it will not support the dialogue between the Senate and the House on proposed constitutional change to make way for a federal system of government.

COMMUNIST guerrillas on Monday killed a police officer and three Army soldiers in separate ambushes in Legazpi City, and North Cotabato, on Monday. 

PILIPINO Telephone Corp. (Piltel), the country’s third largest cellular operator, on Monday said net income for the three months of the year went up by 24 percent to P2.46 billion on the back of higher revenues and lower expenses.