Remains of alleged NPA execution victim exhumed in Davao de Oro

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 18, 2022): Remains of alleged NPA execution victim exhumed in Davao de Oro (By Che Palicte)

NPA ATROCITY. Authorities exhume the remains of Reneboy Abiao, 39, a New People’s Army rebel believed to have been executed by his own commander in Montevista town, Davao de Oro, in 2019. The grave site was discovered after a former rebel revealed its location to the military and police on Monday (April 18, 2022). (Photos courtesy of Montevista MPS)

Authorities exhumed Monday the body of a communist New People’s Army (NPA) combatant believed to have been killed by his own commander on suspicion that he was a government spy.

Police said the skeletal remains dug up by the Army’s 25th Infantry Battalion (IB) and the Montevista police personnel in the Davao de Oro town of Montevista belong to Reneboy Abiao, 39.

A squad leader of the NPA's Guerrilla Front 33, Abiao was killed in 2019 by the commander of his own unit after he was accused of being a government agent.

Abiao's cadaver was identified by his mother, Rose Tumanan, through the identification card found at the shallow grave of her son.

The Montevista police said the discovery of the grave site was made possible through the help of a former rebel.

Interviewed by the Montevista Public Information Office (PIO), the NPA surrenderer said Abiao had planned to surrender days before he was killed.

"His wife eloped with another man, and he has a 13-year-old daughter who is left under her mother's care," the former rebel said, according to the transcript provided by the PIO.

Abiao had not been seen by his family for five years, the former rebel said, adding that his own mother thought all along that his son was working somewhere in Davao City.

Police said Abiao's remains have been turned over to his mother.

The Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

The Anti-Terrorism Council also formally designated the National Democratic Front as a terrorist organization on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and inseparable part” of the CPP-NPA that was created in April 1973.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1172331