NPA leader decries his arrest

From the Mindanao Gold Star Daily (Sep 8): NPA leader decries his arrest

THE suspected New People’s Army (NPA) leader who was arrested here on Friday has accused the police of illegally arresting and detaining him.

Suspect Victoriano Dimco also denied murdering anyone.

“Wala man ko kapatay. ug gidakop ko sa mga police nga wala sila magpakita ug warrant of arrest,” said the 41-year old Dimco of Looc, Villanueva, Misamis Oriental.

Police said Dimco is “Ka Berting,” allegedly the vice chairman of the NPA’s Northern Mindanao Regional Guerrilla Font Committee 6 operating in Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon.

The Puerto police and intelligence operatives from the Misamis Oriental police office arrested him on Thursday night at a house in Purok 6, Puerto.

They alleged that Dimco took a job at a construction site of Jejors Construction on Puerto as a cover.

Senior Insp. Jopet Paglinawan, chief of the Puerto police, said Dimco had five arrest warrants for murder in Malaybalay.

According to the police, Dimco has admitted to being a NPA leader and involvement in the 2007 raid of the municipal police station of Quezon, and the ambush of soldiers Bukidnon in 2000 that resulted in the shooting death of an army captain.

Dimco told the Gold Star Daily that he didn’t kill anyone “pero unsa-on man nga apil man kita sa maong attack, so bisan wala ta makapatay, maapil gihapon ta sa kaso.”

Dimco said he was active in the NPA from 1998 to 2007. He said he surrendered to former mayor Benedict Lagbas of Lagongong in December 2007, and applied for an amnesty.

Dimco said his arrest came as a surprise to him. “Natingala lagi ko ani, ngano nga   gidakop ko nga nag-apply man ko sa amnesty program.”
The arresting officers, he said, pounced on him and took him without showing them any warrant.

 http://www.goldstardailynews.com.ph/mindanao/npa-leader-decries-his-arrest.html