ILOILO CITY--The New People's Army has owned up to the killing of a commander of the breakaway Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade in Iloilo.

In an e-mailed statement, the NPA's Napoleon Tumagtang Command said they "punished" Jose Cabunagan for "blood debts against the people."

"Cabunagan, known as the Provincial Commander of the "(RPA-ABB) in Iloilo was responsible for many crimes against the revolutionary movement and the people," The rebel command said in the statement signed by its spokesperson Ariston Remus.

Cabunagan died of multiple gunshot wounds on Thursday after at least six heavily armed men shot him in Barangay Bagacay in Tigbauan town around 14 km south of here.

Remus said Cabunagan has been involved in various killings of civilians from 1994 until last year.

He accused Cabunagan of being involved in the killing of lawyer Edgar Calizo in the capital town of Kalibo in Aklan in 2004 and the alleged abduction and killing of missing mountaineer Leovic Gutierez in 2003.

The RPA-ABB has repeatedly denied these allegations.

The RPA-ABB broke ties with the NPA in the early 1990s over ideological and political differences. It signed a peace pact with the government on December 2000.

Both groups have repeatedly clashed in Western Visayas.

The NPA had owned the killing of two RPA-ABB commanders including the group's regional commander Daniel Batoy who was shot dead in Aklan in August 2004. The Philippine National Police and Commission on Elections have identified 68 towns and cities in Western Visayas as election areas of concern, mainly because of the presence of NPA rebels.*NPB

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