Rebels kill ex-soldier, farmer

From the Visayan Daily Star (Jul 4, 2019): Rebels kill ex-soldier, farmer

A former Army soldier and a farmer accused of being a government informant were both shot dead by suspected New People’s Army rebels on Tuesday and Wednesday in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental, and Ilog, Negros Occidental.

Five suspected NPA rebels yesterday shot and killed Andy Castor, an Army soldier who went AWOL (Absent With Out Leave) in 2009, in Brgy. Magsaysay, Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental.

Investigations of the Guihulngan City police showed that Castor, 41, and his wife, Aloha, whom he had fetched from the Nagsaha Elementary School, were on their way home to the poblacion in Guihulngan, when he was shot.

Castor was declared dead on arrival from multiple gunshot wounds at the Guihulngan City District Hospital.

The suspects, who fled south west left behind 15 fired cartridges and two slugs of 9mm and .45 caliber pistols.

On Tuesday, 12 suspected NPA rebels also summarily executed a farmer they had accused of being a military informant in Brgy. Canlamay, Ilog, Negros Occidental.

The victim identified by Maj. Norberto Barniso, Ilog police chief, as Ricky Castro, 40, succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds, and died on the spot.

Initial police investigations showed that Castro was tilling his farm lots, when he was approached by 12 armed men, who introduced themselves as NPA members, a witness said.

Without any reason at all, Castro was shot by one of the 12 NPA suspects, with an M-16 assault rifle. He suffered gunshot wounds in the stomach and left leg, and a fatal one in the head, Barniso said.

Barniso said Castro may have been mistaken for a government informant. But he said it was the brother of Castro, who served as an asset of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

Recovered from the scene of incident were three empty shells of an M-16 rifle.

Before his death, Barniso disclosed that Castro and his brother, who received death threats, left for Manila last year. A month after he returned to their residence in Brgy. Canlamay, Ilog, Castro was killed, he added.

Barniso said that the suspects also linked Castro to robbery-hold-up incidents. But he said Castro has no pending complaints lodged against him in the barangay, or at the police station.

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2019/July/04/topstory8.htm