THE military has
brushed aside suspicion that the New People’s Army (NPA) insurgents were the
ones responsible for killing a councilor of Opol, Misamis Oriental the other
day, instead of putting the blame on them.
The Philippine
Army has confirmed to Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro Friday that the death of the
municipal councilor was not the handiwork of the NPA.
Major Christian
Uy, the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Division (4ID) spokesman, dismissed the
possibility that armed guerrilla members were behind the ruthless killing of
Opol council member Cecilio Abuhan last Thursday around 3 p.m. in Barangay
Bagocboc.
Uy told Sun.Star
Cagayan de Oro by phone that the NPA's influence in Opol is not as strong as
the other areas in the province.
Opol police said
Abuhan was on board a motorcycle traversing the roads of Sitio Inayaw in
Bagocboc from Barangay Tungalan when a group of unidentified suspects shot the
public official.
Police Officer 3
(PO3) Jonathan Eduave, chief investigator at Opol police station, said they are
still establishing how the suspects killed Abuhan as no witnesses have come
forward yet.
Eduave said the
attackers might have waited for the victim to pass by or they had followed him.
According to
Abuhan's wife Margielen, Bagocboc village chair, his husband had been receiving
death threats a month ago.
Margielen added
that politics may have cost the life of her husband.
"My
husband's been so good to his people especially in the hinterlands which other
politicians might have envied him," Margielen said of his husband in a TV
interview.
The Scene of the
Crime Operatives (Soco) recovered a total of 11 empty shells from a .45 caliber
and .9mm gun at the crime scene.
Dr. West Edquila,
Soco team leader, said the victim succumbed to four gunshot wounds on the back
of his head, one on his neck's left side and one on the chest.
Misamis Oriental
provincial administrator Edmundo Pacamalan Jr. said in an interview that Abuhan
had been receiving complaints for maltreatment of his constituents, but that it
happened years ago.
Pacamalan said
authorities are also looking at other angles.
However, he
believed that the NPA has not established a stronghold in Opol.
Army: NPA
‘desperate’
Meanwhile, the
4ID called the act of the NPA “desperate” after the communist group released a
statement denying that the two people killed in a raid by the 26th Infantry
Battalion were not one of theirs but civilians.
“They are
desperate because they know that they are now outnumbered,” Uy said.
According to
reports, two people were killed during a raid conducted by the 26IB and those
were later identified as members of the NPA by the military.
High-powered
firearms were also confiscated including grenade launchers, rifles and a
shotgun.
In an e-mailed
statement sent to Sun.Star, the NPA said their “red fighters” were in Barangay
Mahagsay, San Luis, Agusan del Sur last August 15 to help the residents in
harvesting corn, while their medics were also giving medical assistance to
children and the elderly.
“The NPA squad
was temporarily stationed in a hut at the time while helping some peasants
harvest their corn. The area is isolated and more than two kilometers away from
the sitio center. NPA medics were also giving medical checkup to some residents
in the area,” the statement said.
According to the Maoist
rebels, the raid turned bloody when a civilian named Iya Manlapindig, 40, and
Oto Prisyoso, 19, were shot dead.
“When the raid
started, the 'red fighters' just finished their lunch together with seven
civilians, three of whom were children. Among the civilians were a mother, who
availed of a medical check-up, and her newborn baby. Even so, the ruthless
soldiers unhesitatingly strafed at the hut,” the NPA statement said.
“The red fighters
swiftly took all the civilians to a safe place except for two, [Manlapindig],
who immediately died of a gunshot wound on her chest; and [Prisyoso], who was
scraped by a bullet on his calf but was subsequently killed by the soldiers,”
it added.
The 4ID, however,
denied this, saying the allegations are just to turn the “real” story against
the leftist insurgents.
“Well, I am not
surprised they would not own it up. That is their doing. It was a legitimate
encounter and the two people killed were NPAs. Even the civilians could attest
to that,” Uy said.
The NPA feels
that retired Major General Jovito Palparan’s "doings" are still
continuing up to this day.
“The two were
added to the mounting list of the bloodthirsty military’s victims. This proves
the ‘Palparan culture’ still prevails in the Aquino regime’s armed forces,” the
NPA said.
However Uy said:
“They said before that the ‘Berdugo’ is Palparan. Well, I think it is the other
way around.”
