They did it, they said. The New People’s Army yesterday admitted responsibility for killing nine persons, including a policeman, in Barangay Puso, La Castellana, on January 27. It also apologized for the death of two civilians, and the wounding of a 14-year-old boy and others.
In a tape-recorded message sent to the media, Ka JB Regalado, spokesman of the Leonardo Panaligan Command of the NPA, said they will assist the families of the civilian victims and take disciplinary action against their military unit responsible for the incident and its head under the principle of command responsibility.
Regalado said the LPC-NPA is saddened by the death of civilians Virginia Ordonez and Enrique Dingcong. The rebel group apologized and asked for the forgiveness of the families of their acknowledged victims, and Regalado said they would get in touch with them to provide assistance.
The LPC-NPA had no intention of killing anyone on the Barangay Puso canter truck that was carrying policemen, tanods and Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team members, Regalado said. Their purpose for stopping the vehicle was to disarm those on board of their high powered weapons, he said.
USED BY ARMY?
The rebel group charged that the BPAT and tanods were used by the Army and police as spies against the NPA in barangays Puso and neighboring Cabacungan in La Castellana.
Regalado said the NPA fired a warning shot to stop the Canter truck but heard a loud burst coming from it followed by successive gunfire, that, he said, prompted them to return fire.
He added that they then disarmed those on the vehicle of seven firearms -- two M-16 rifles, a sub-machinegun, M-2 carbine rifle, shotgun, .45 caliber pistol and .357 magnum revolver, as well as night vision goggles, magazines and bullets.
MASSACRE DENIED
The LPC–NPA denied that the incident was a massacre, and that they finished off the casualties by shooting them in the head. It also claimed they withdrew from the scene of the incident without any casualties on their side.
Regalado scored Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon for saying that those who carried out the assault could have been high on drugs, calling it an irresponsible statement.
The governor on Monday said that, the way the ambushers finished their victims off by shooting them in the head to make sure they were dead, after they had already been shot, showed anger and hatred beyond human reasoning.
It looks like the work of people high on drugs. Finishing victims off, including civilians, with shots to the head does not sound like the usual work of the NPA, Marañon said.
‘IRRATIONAL, ILLOGICAL’
Regalado also called the statement of Senior Supt. Celestino Guara, caretaker of the Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office, that the incident was a massacre “irrational and illogical.”
Thee government officials are answerable to the people for arming tanods and BFAT members with high powered weapons, he claimed.
He also questioned why the armed policemen, tanods and BPAT members rode on a civilian vehicle and asked if this was done to use civilians as shields.
‘MISTAKE’ ADMITTED
The rebel group, however, admitted that the civilians victims were a mistake and a violation of the NPA rules and the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights and International Laws.
Regalado cited Part 3 Article 2 No. 3 of the CAHRIL that states "The right of the victims and their families to seek justice for violations of human rights, including adequate compensation or indemnification, restitution and rehabilitation, and effective sanctions and guarantees against repetition and impunity."
The LPC-NPA is ready to answer for its obligations to its acknowledged victims, Regalado said, citing Article 4 of the CAHRIL that states that “The persons liable for violations and abuses of human rights shall be subject to investigation and, if evidence warrants, to prosecution and trial. The victims or their survivors shall be indemnified. All necessary measures shall be undertaken to remove the conditions for violations and abuses of human rights and to render justice to and indemnify the victims.”
HITCHIKERS
BPAT volunteer Ronnie Lapiado, 41, had earlier told the DAILY STAR that when they left Barangay Puso on January 27, there were 22 passengers on the Canter truck they were riding - three policemen, the BFAT members, barangay tanods, Virginia Ordoñez and the driver.
But, as they were leaving, civilians walking home, including children, asked to hitch a ride, so there were more than 30 passengers as they proceeded.
When the ambushers opened fire on their vehicle, their passengers shouted "We're civilians, spare us," Lapiado said.
Those who were standing up in the truck were hit by gunfire, but those who lay on the floor were not hit as the bullets did not penetrate the wall of the truck, he said.
The shooters then shouted for the civilians to get off the truck and lie on their stomachs on the ground.
WIFE THOUGHT WRONG
The children were allowed to flee.
Virginia Ordoñez, 50, threw her body over her husband to try to save him and was killed instead.
Avelino Ordoñez, 48, a BPAT member, said his wife thought the gunmen who staged the ambush would spare civilians but she was wrong.
He said that, as he lay on the ground with his wife on his back the gunmen continued to fire, shattering her back and arm with bullets, while he was unharmed.
http://www.visayandailystar.com/2013/February/02/topstory1.htm
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