14 alleged NPA members killed in Batangas encounter

At least 14 members of the New People's Army (NPA) were killed in a running gun battle in Nasugbu, Batangas on Tuesday night.

The encounter started in Barangay Kaylaway at around 8:30 p.m. after police spotted the rebels on board a jeepney and a closed van.

The Nasugbu Police said joint police and military teams were dispatched after receiving reports of armed men in the village.

It said that the troops, including members of the military's 730th Combat Group, were fired upon by the rebels when they arrived in the area.

Troops initially killed eight of the armed men, believed to be members of the NPA, during the encounter.

Five more members of the armed group were killed in Barangay Aga.

In the report of GMA News' Ivan Mayrina on "State of the Nation with Jessica Soho," a wounded suspected rebel was still brought to the hospital but died a few hours later, bringing the death toll to 14.

The military said the rebels were members of the communist group's Guerilla Unit 3 based in Batangas. Among those killed were the guerilla unit's secretary and a platoon leader, the military added.

Brigadier General Arnulfo Burgos, commander of the 202nd Infantry Brigade, the death of the NPA leaders in the counter will create a leadership vacuum in the rebel unit and "signals the end of insurgency in Batangas."

Five soldiers, meanwhile, were hurt in the counter, but are now in stable conditions.

The encounter took place nearly a week after President Rodrigo Duterte signed Proclamation No. 360, terminating the government's peace negotiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

Before signing the proclamation, Duterte said the communist group should be tagged as a terror organization. —report from James Agustin/BAP/ALG, GMA News