Communist Terrorist racket revealed

By Maj. FELIX M. MANGYAO (INF) PA
September 30, 2006

CAMP LUKBAN, Catbalogan, Samar  –  A platoon of combined elements of Charlie Company and Headquarters Service Company of the 19th Infantry Battalion under the command of Lt. Col. Lope Dagoy while conducting combat operation at Brgy. Mahayag, Ormoc City discovered abandoned enemy encampment at Sitio Tugob of said barangay on September 26, 2006 at around 1:00 o’clock in the afternoon.

The discovery was a result of an information provided by a barangay official of Mahayag, Ormoc City who pinpointed the exact location of the enemy encampment. According to Lt. Col. Dagoy, the camp was located in a forested area approximately five (5) kilometers away from the heart of Ormoc City. In an interview with some barangay residents, they averred that the said camp was then utilized by the slain Communist Terrorist leader Bebiano Rentillosa alias Elmo and his group as staging point in their extortion activities in Ormoc City and its adjacent areas. Likewise, the area was also utilized as temporary shelter and hiding place of their new “minor” recruits trained to pose as letter couriers in their extortion rackets.

Recovered from the said camp was a long list of local officials, businessmen and sugarcane planters believed to be victims of their extortion activities. Also in the list are some personalities whose names are reportedly involved in illegal drug trade in the region. A gas stove with two (2) burners, improvised landmines, blasting caps, detonating cords, and voluminous communist documents of high intelligence value were also recovered.