An alleged organizer of Anak Pawis implicated in the assassination of breakaway communist rebel faction leader Rogelio Magbato, alias Ka Malvar, is nowhere to be found and could have gone into hiding, the police said.

Senior Inspector Teodorico Pecardal, Mabinay police chief, yesterday said the Oriental Negros Provincial Prosecutor's Office will conduct a preliminary investigation on the complaint of multiple murder filed against Michael "TJ" Nuico, Eddie Amper and two other John Does, Wednesday.

The case is in connection with the assassination of Ka Malvar and two members of the Civilian Volunteer's Organization two months ago. Aside from being an organizer of Anak Pawis, Nuico is also a member of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and provincial coordinator of the League of Filipino Students, his colleagues claim.

Pecardal said Nuico, a student activist studying at the Silliman University in Dumaguete City, may have gone underground.

Roy Danieles, Bayan-Negros Oriental secretary-general had earlier confirmed that Nuico, a resident of Santa Catalina town, disappeared upon learning of the alleged charges against him, Amper and two others who are unidentified. Danieles said implicating leaders of progressive groups in the underground movement is part of the government campaign to dismantle militant groups. He added, however, that the government and its military and police intelligence will not succeed in silencing them by harassment and even imprisonment.

The Boy Gatmaitan Command of the New People's Army has claimed responsibility for the Jan. 26 assassination of Ka Malvar and two CVO members in Mabinay town.

Ka Bayani Obrero, a spokesman of the mainstream rebel faction, claimed that Malvar was punished for the alleged rape-slay of a minor, land grabbing, extortion activities, and active participation in the counter-insurgency campaign of the military.

Col. Bonifacio de Castro, officer-in-charge of the 303rd Infantry Brigade, said CVO members Rogelio Maylan and Joel Mahusay, were not the targets of rebel assassins, but Malvar.

Malvar was the third Revolutionary Proletarian Army leader to be assassinated by NPA hitmen since 2003. The two other breakaway faction leaders killed in previous years were Arturo Tabara, and Daniel Batoy, alias Ka Mokong.*GPB

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