The Revolutionary Proletarian Army–Alex Boncayao Brigade under Carapali Lualhati yesterday denied that it had ordered one of its members to assassinate Labor Arbiter Phibun Pura Sunday, while the RPA-ABB faction under Nilo de la Cruz said it was their work.

Pura, 60, a labor arbiter of the National Labor Relations Commission and resident of Talisay City , was gunned down by Edgar Nicor, alias Ka Joshua, as he was leaving a cockpit at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday in Brgy. Zone 14, Talisay City , Negros Occidental, the police said.

Kenneth Tirthdas, brother-in-law of Pura, then reportedly shot and killed Nicor.

Senior Supt. Rosendo Franco, Negros Occidental police director, said Tirthdas has informed Supt. Joseph Thomas Martir, Talisay police chief, that he is willing to cooperate. Franco said he has instructed Martir to verify the status of the firearm used by Tirthdas.

“It appears that the killing of Pura was job-related, but this is still unconfirmed,” Franco said.

We have not received information that the killing was sanctioned by the RPA-ABB leadership, he said.

Martir said it seemed Tirthdas feared for his life but had informed him that he is prepared to cooperate with the police.

Tirthdas said he only did what he did because Nicor had shot Pura first, Martir said.

Victorino Sumulong, spokesman of the RPA-ABB under Carapali Lualhati, said Nicor, 35, a member of the intelligence unit of their provincial command who is from Escalante City , acted on his own when he shot Pura and was not acting on orders of their higher command.

Their RPA-ABB group is investigating who the two companions of Nicor were to determine if they were also members of their group, he said.

Sumulong said their group had received numerous complaints from workers about Pura having issued decisions favoring capitalists and businessmen.

Nicor, who operated in the field, must also have received a lot of complaints against Pura and may have gotten fed up and acted on his own, he said.

The RPA-ABB is assisting the family of Nicor who may take legal action against Tirthdas, he said.

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Negros Occidental Chapter condemns in the strongest terms the killing of Pura, its president, Rodolfo Parreño, said yesterday.

If there were any complaints against Pura, legal remedies should have been pursued, not an assassination, he said.

Ka Dodong, spokesman for the RPA-ABB Negros group under de la Cruz, condemned the killing of Pura that he said was perpetrated by a group of “gangsters” they had already expelled from their group.

Meanwhile, a group calling itself the Workers Justice Committee in a statement signed by Honorato Dimagiba said the killing of Pura should serve as a lesson to “corrupt labor arbiters” at the NLRC, not only in Region 6, but in the entire Philippines.

It cited the arrest of Pura by the National Bureau of Investigation for allegedly receiving bribe money. Pura at the time of his arrest had vehemently denied the allegation.*CPG

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