LUCENA CITY – Two police officers were killed in the first of two running gunbattles with suspected communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in San Jose town in Occidental Mindoro Saturday, the military said. Retumban said the rebels retreated towards different directions, dragging along their wounded and dead comrades, as shown by the bloodstains at the encounter site. After two hours, at around 11: 45 a.m., the government forces again engaged the retreating rebels. Quoting Col. Marceliano Teofilo, commander of the Army’s 203rd Infantry Brigade, the report said the encounters were part of pursuit operations in Mansalay town in Oriental Mindoro after the escaping rebels were forced to withdraw to the boundary between Oriental Mindoro and Occidental Mindoro. On Thursday, two NPA rebels were killed in another encounter in Mansalay.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer February 23, 2019 13:30 UTC