COTABATO CITY (September 27, 2025, Saturday) — Soldiers had seized components for improvised explosive devices, a grenade and an M16 rifle after a brief clash with New People’s Army guerillas in Barangay Kitudak in Lebak, Sultan Kudarat on Friday, September 26.
Brig. Gen. Michael Santos, commander of the Army’s 603rd Infantry Brigade, told reporters on Saturday, September 27, that the encounter in Sitio Kinawan in Barangay Kitudak erupted when the NPAs opened fire at a team from the 57th Infantry Battalion responding to reports by villagers about their presence in the area, collecting money and rice from them at gunpoint.
Traditional community leaders in Kitudak and municipal officials had confirmed to reporters that the NPAs immediately scampered away, carrying three wounded companions, as soldiers came close to their location from two directions.
Local leaders had told reporters that all three wounded NPAs, whom they identified as Marco, Ariel and Roman, were implicated in the burning, in arson attacks between 2016 to 2022, of heavy equipment of construction firms operating then in highland towns in South Cotabato province after owners had refused to pay their group “protection money” on a periodic basis.
Lt. Col. Aeron Gumabao, commanding officer of the 57th IB, said on Saturday that residents of highland barangays in Sultan Kudarat’s adjoining Lebak, Kalamansig and Palimbang towns are helping them reach out to the few remaining NPAs in the the three areas to return to the fold of law and get reintegrated into the local communities.
Citing reports from local executives, Major Gen. Donald Gumiran, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, and Santos separately said that the group that clashed with personnel of the 57th IB left behind an M16 assault rifle, a grenade and components for IEDs as they fled in haste, carrying their wounded companions.
Photo shows the provisions left by NPA guerillas after a brief clash with soldiers in Sitio Kinawan in Barangay Kitudak.