Esperon: Lawmen kill 3 Red assassins in Laguna raid

By Dexter Cabalza / Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA – National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. claimed on Friday that security forces killed three communist rebels on a mission to assassinate officials of the controversial National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac).

“One of their missions [was] to hit NTF-Elcac talking heads. However, they were preempted. Our gratitude to our partners in NTF-Elcac, including members of the armed forces and the police,” Esperon, vice chair of the anti-insurgency task force, said in a statement.

He did not identify who among the NTF-Elcac officials were the target of the attack but, last week, Esperon announced the addition of six more task force spokespersons, besides Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. and Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy.

Government troops were supposed to serve warrants of arrest against Rommel Rizza, alias Jomar/Bernie, for attempted murder, murder, and kidnapping with murder issued by two regional trial courts in Quezon province.

Gunfight

Officers of the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Army raided Rizza’s safehouse inside a subdivision in Barangay Macabling, Sta. Rosa, Laguna, past 12 a.m. Friday.

Esperon said that during the service of the warrant, Rizza and his men fired at the arresting officers, triggering a gunfight, which eventually killed Rizza and two others identified only as medic and supply officer “Ka Blue/Billy” and intelligence officer “Ka Dean.”