At least one person was dead and several others injured after government forces in a convoy clashed with suspected rebels in North Cotabato on Wednesday.
The convoy composed mostly of members from the Presidential Security Group was on its way to Cagayan de Oro when they ran into a checkpoint manned by guerrillas, their commander Louie Dagoy told reporters.
The fatality was identified as Benjamin Pandia, a member of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit.
At least five PSG members were also injured.
“Our troops were able to fire back and they called for help from a nearby militia base,” a regional military spokesman, Major Ezra Balagtey, told AFP.
President Rodrigo Duterte was not in the convoy when gunmen opened fire on the two PSG vehicles along a highway on the main southern island of Mindanao.
“This is part of their nationwide call for armed groups to oppose martial law by launching intensified offensives against government forces,” Brigadier General Gilbert Gapay, deputy commander of the Eastern Mindanao Command, said.
The ambush came a day after Duterte asked Congress for authorization to place Mindanao under martial law until December to defeat Islamic State group-styled militants fighting security forces in the city of Marawi.
A 60-day martial rule is already in place over the island after the militants attacked Marawi on May 23, but Duterte conceded Tuesday he needed more time to defeat the IS-styled gunmen.
The communist party, which has been waging Asia’s longest insurgency, called on its armed wing on Tuesday to launch offensives in response to Duterte’s extended martial law plan.
The communist insurgency that began in 1968 has claimed an estimated 30,000 lives, according to the military.
The rebels have been in on-and-off peace talks with the government since Duterte, a self-described socialist, was elected last year.
They were set to resume formal negotiations next month.
On Tuesday Duterte denounced the rebels for their alleged treachery in killing soldiers.
Saying the rebels were targeting soldiers who are not allowed to carry their assault rifles when they went off-duty, Duterte announced he was providing all of them with pistols for self-defense.
“The majority of the people have repudiated communism with all its brutality, and (they have) nothing really to offer to the country. It’s almost bankrupt,” Duterte added.
Gapay said as of now, “a bulk” of the PSG troops have been “extricated.” (Eagle News Service, Agence France Presse)
