NPA wreaks havoc, admits to killings

From the Manila Bulletin (Aug 24): NPA wreaks havoc, admits to killings

Some 50 heavily armed men believed to BE members of New People’s Army (NPA) swooped down on a banana plantation Saturday night and put a blaze to the company’s hangar and spray plane at Purok 4, Barangay Dona Rosario, Tubay, Agusan del Norte. This was learned through a sketchy report reaching the police regional command and tactical operation center yesterday.

The name of the company is yet to be established.

According to an initial flash report from Tubay Municipal Police Station (MPS), men surprised the company’s two security guards and disarmed them of their respective shotguns at around 7:40 in the evening.

The report said six armed men entered the hangar and hog-tied the guards before setting the spray plane on fire using gasoline, while other armed men served as lookouts around the perimeter.

The perpetrators were in the plantation compound for 20 minutes before fleeing to a nearby forested mountain.

As of this posting, the regional command of Police Regional Office 13 (PRO 13) based at Camp Rafael C. Rodriguez has ordered the Tubay MPS to conduct a thorough investigation to determine the exact cost of damage, the motive, and identities of the perpetrators in preparation for filing of charges in court.

Combat troops of the 402nd Infantry (Stingers) Brigade are still conducting massive pursuit operations after the group.

ADMISSION

In another development, the NPA on Saturday has claimed responsibility for the killing of municipal councilor Cecilio Abuhan. Abuhan was killed Thursday afternoon in Barangay Bagoboc, Opol town, Misamis Oriental.

In a statement released to the local media, Allan Juanito, spokesperson of the CPP-NPA-NDF North Central Mindanao Region, said that a team of NPA snipers shot and killed Abohan, an incumbent town councilor of Opol, because of his alleged abuses against the village people of Bagocboc.

Abuhan succumbed to eight bullet wounds—six in the head and two in the body.

He was riding a motorcycle when ambushed by armed men, also on a motorcycle.

Margilen Abuhan, wife of the slain councilor and who is chairwoman of Barangay Bagocboc, said she received information that her husband was among the targets of a liquidation squad of the NPA.

Opol Senior Inspector Alwin Baclao said the investigation is focusing on the motive of the killing.

Abuhan had been in politics since 1994.

http://www.mb.com.ph/npa-wreaks-havoc-admits-to-killings/