NPA owns killing of Malaybalay IP representative

From InterAksyon (May 21): NPA owns killing of Malaybalay IP representative

Communist rebels in Bukidnon province acknowledged responsibility for killing the mandatory indigenous people’s representative to the Malaybalay City council early this week.

A statement in Bisaya signed by Ka Ariel “Inda” Magbanwag, spokesman of the New People’s Army South-Central Bukidnon sub-regional operation command, confirmed that a rebel “sparrow unit” gunned down Datu Benjamin “Otto” Omao at his office at the Indigenous People’s Apostolate in Purok 3, Casisangn, Malaybalay on Tuesday morning, May 17.

The attack also wounded Bae Thelma Saieto, mandatory IP representative of Barangay Aglayan, who was hit in the arm, and Sammy Talucdo, a member of Omao’s staff, who was hit in the leg.

The rebels promised to give financial aid to the two, saying they were not able to do so immediately “because of the difficulty of establishing a line of communication.”

Magbanwag said Omao was targeted for being an alleged “criminal, land grabber” and “counterrevolutionary” who was “feared” because of his links to the “criminal bandit” Delamance group, which has been accused of the recent killings and threats against lumad in the province’s hinterlands.

The slain datu was also allegedly active in organizing the military-backed Alamara militia and of exhorting lumad communities to kill any NPA members they came across.

“The masses in many barangays of Malaybalay City and Cabanglasan have demanded the punishment of Omao,” the rebel spokesman said.

Magbanwag also called on the Malaybalay local government “not to install an IP mandatory representative with a criminal record and to closely examine the record” of anyone it planned to install as IP representative.

Among the alleged crimes Magbanwag accused Omao of committing were the 2004 murder of his nephew Bata and his own brother Boyboy in 2005 over a land dispute.

He also claimed Omao had been involved in selling marijuana in Cabanglasan, for which an associate of his, Datu Andabaw Diawangan, was killed by the NPA in June 2007.

http://interaksyon.com/article/128066/npa-owns-killing-of-malaybalay-ip-representative