ALCALA – It was a battle scene that could have happened only in the movies, but it happened nonetheless.

This was how Chief Inspector Lenbell Fabia, the town police chief, described the firefight that ensued between the 71stInfantry Battalion of the Philippine Army joined by the police and a group of armed men while patrolling the Pindangan Estate mid-morning.

The six-hour heavy firefight in barangay Pindangan Centro here Thursday ended with two suspects killed and the wounding of another person and confiscation of high- powered firearms.

Lt. Benjie Arciaga of the 7lst Infantry Battalion, said the encounter happened while they were conducting patrol along with members of the Sto. Tomas police in the border of Sto. Tomas and Alcala to check on the reported presence of armed men.

      Initially, the Army said the suspects belong to the New People’s Army (NPA) but the police discounted this as no subversive documents were recovered in the area and this town is not known to be NPA-infested.

But lady barangay captain Norma Gabriel, 35, of Pindangan Centro, Alcala disputed the police and army version about the encounter even as she claimed the two dead men and all those hospitalized are her relatives.

Barangay Captain Gabriel said the land dispute over Pindangan estate pitted “178” and “302” groups as claimants over the years.

Supt. Noli Taliño, deputy police director for operations, confirmed that the presence of the armed group in the area was in connection with the current land dispute involving the Pindangan Estate. 

According to Arciaga, the armed men were urged to surrender and lay down their firearms but they refused and instead continued firing at the troops. He maintained that the armed men could not have been simple farmers since they were carrying lethal weapons.

But  according to  Gabriel, the dead and the wounded were all working in the farm of retired police Col. Conrado Peregrino, one of the property owners of Pindangan estate, identified with group “178”.

The two suspects killed in the encounter were identified as Felipe Galleno and Rogelio Montero, a member of the Civilian Volunteer Organization of Pindangan Centro and a former military man.

Brought to the Region 1 Medical Center were Rogelio Abaco, Francisco Parel, Revino Galleno and Armando Lacerna, all of barangay Pindangan Centro.

Those who surrendered after long hours of exchange of firefight were Rogelio Abaco, Francisco Parel and Revino Galleno.

Curiously, the name of Peregrino, who was wounded in the stomach and rushed to the Villasis Polymedic Hospital, was not among those listed as injured in the police report.

Seized from them were one M16, one M14 rifle, one M1 Garand Springfield, one improvised/converted M14 rifle, one Remington shotgun and one homemade shotgun plus assorted ammunitions.

The Pindangan Estate has been a patrimonial property of the State since Nov. 28, 1923 when it acquired said estate from Cristina Gonzales through foreclosure proceedings.

Decades after 1923, the Pindangan Estate has been the subject of dispute between two groups of farmer-tenants, the Group of 302 and the Group of 178.

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