NPA hitmen kill ex-Army soldier

From the Visayan Daily Star (Jun 21): NPA hitmen kill ex-Army soldier

Three suspected New People's Army members yesterday shot and killed a former Army sergeant in Brgy. Lumapao, Canlaon City in Negros Oriental.

The victim was identified by the 303rd Infantry Brigade as former Army Sgt. Ronnie Montejo, formerly of the 11th Infantry Battalion.

Montejo was riding a motorcycle when he was gunned down by three suspects believed to be members of the NPA Special Partisan Unit, two days after the rebel group also raided a police station in Maasin town, Iloilo.

Lt. Col. Arnel Cabugon, Public Affairs Office chief of the 3rd Infantry Division, yesterday said that the motive of the shooting incident is still being determined.

Montejo was reported as an intelligence operative of the 11IB when he was still active in the military service.

Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza, in a statement issued by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, said the NPA attack in Maasin, Iloilo, and elsewhere must be dealt with accordingly and decisively by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the National Police.

It is disheartening to note that such attacks provide a negative impact in our mutual commitment with the National Democratic Front to provide that enabling environment conducive to the continuation of peace negotiations with them, Dureza said.

Since the latest statements of the NDF and the government to mutually refrain from taking offensive operations against each other cover only Mindanao, Dureza clarified that there is yet no mutually agreed bilateral ceasefire agreement in place nationwide.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana also criticized the communist hierarchy for failing to rein in its forces after the New People's Army attacked the Maasin police station.

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2017/June/21/negor2.htm