Suspect in Surigao tribal school exec slay falls

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 26, 2022): Suspect in Surigao tribal school exec slay falls (By Alexander Lopez)

A graphics released by the Police Regional Office-13 shows the arrest of Daniel Lovero Tejero, accused of killing a tribal school official in Surigao del Sur town of Lianga in 2015.

A suspect in the 2015 killing of an executive of a tribal school in the Surigao del Sur town of Lianga has been arrested, police said Tuesday.

Brig. Gen. Romeo Caramat Jr., director of the Police Regional Office in the Caraga Region (PRO-13), said Daniel Lovero Tejero was arrested Monday by the Lianga police by virtue of arrest warrants.

Tejero, 30, a resident of Barangay Banahao, Lianga, is the primary suspect in the killing of Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development (ALCADEV) executive director Emerito Samarca and two civilians on September 1, 2015.

Tejero has eight standing arrest warrants for murder, robbery, robbery with violence against or intimidation of persons, grave coercion, grave threats, and destructive arson.

Police said Tejero is a member of the Magahat, a paramilitary group operating in Lianga.

The ALCADEV, together with the Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao del Sur or TRIFPSS that formerly operated in the areas of Barangay Diatagon in Lianga, are suspected of having links with the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

The two schools ceased operations after several indigenous people (IP) leaders in the area demanded their closure over suspicions that they are being used as fronts for NPA recruitment.

After their closures, IP schools duly accredited by the Department of Education were immediately established in the towns of Lianga and Marihatag.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1172979