Rebels gun down businessman in Guihulngan

From the Sun Star-Bacolod (May 27): Rebels gun down businessman in Guihulngan

IN ANOTHER spate of New People’s Army (NPA) atrocities in Negros Island Region (NIR), suspected rebels gunned down a businessman in Barangay Tinayunan, Guihulngan City in Negros Oriental Wednesday evening.

Police identified the fatality as Geovani Tan, 43.

Superintendent D’Artagnan Katalbas Jr., city police chief, said Tan was walking home from the city proper when six unidentified men waylaid and shot him.

Katalbas said Tan sustained multiple gunshot wounds. He was declared dead in a hospital.

The unidentified assailants acknowledged themselves as NPA rebels as they fled, the police chief said.

Police recovered nine bullet casings and three live ammunition of .45 caliber.

Initial investigation showed Tan’s killing could be related to land dispute because the police were informed that Tan was reportedly involved in land grabbing in the rebel-infested area.

Katalbas said they also received reports that Tan has threats from the NPA due to land grabbing issues.

Several hours earlier, suspected rebels also killed a former rebel in the boundary of Guihulngan and Canlaon cities.

Rodolfo “Ronnie” Jakosalem, 59, a farmer, of La Castellana, Negros Occidental, was shot to death by 10 armed men while he was walking with his wife from Sitio Manggapa, Barangay Masulog in Canlaon City toward the city proper.

Senior Superintendent Harris Fama, acting provincial director of Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office (Norppo), said he ordered all police chiefs to intensify their information gathering and monitoring against the rebel atrocities.

Fama also directed all station commanders to conduct random checkpoints to prevent and obstruct entry of suspicious persons in their respective areas.

He reminded the different sectors to be vigilant and report suspicious activities to the police immediately.

In Negros Occidental, the latest rebel attack on May 22 at a farm workers’ bunkhouse in Barangay General Luna, Sagay City, claimed the lives of two farmers and injured two others.

The NPA, however, claimed the two fatalities were Special Civilian Armed Auxiliary (Scaa) troopers, and that they entered not a farmers’ bunkhouse but a Scaa detachment.

They added that they captured not only one, but also two other paramilitary men, whom they later released.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/bacolod/local-news/2016/05/27/rebels-gun-down-businessman-guihulngan-476033