‘Army to protect
ex-rebel supporters’

MURCIA – The military yesterday assured barangay officials and former rebel supporters who are now targets of either harassment or liquidation by the New People’s Army that they will be protected at all cost.

Col. Honorato de los Reyes, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, said Army troops will remain in insurgency-affected barangays, as long as there are armed rebels present.

De los Reyes made the assurance in the wake of separate attacks against civilians and former rebel supporters in Brgys. Trinidad and Linantuyan, both in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental, who testified against some cadres and leaders of the NPA in court, and before the Commission on Human Rights.

“We will inject some troops in some areas of Negros whose populace are being threatened by rebels, to show the military is determined to protect them and the finish the insurgency problem,” De los Reyes said.

Military records show the existence of four NPA guerilla bases in the quad-boundaries of Moises Padilla-Guihulngan-Isabela-Canlaon, tri-boundaries of La Libertad-Isabela-Guihulngan, whole hinterland areas of Guihulngan and the boundaries of Himamaylan-Binalbagan-Tayasan.

De los Reyes also encouraged barangay officials receiving threats from the underground movement, to organize their respective Barangay Defense System, in coordination with the military and police, to prevent the entry of rebels in their areas.

He clarified that barangay officials and the populace need not fight the rebels with guns, saying it is the job of soldiers and policemen. “What we need is timely information so that we could immediately act and respond to any presence of armed men in their areas,” De los Reyes said.

Military records show that the NPA’s Leonardo Panaligan Command in central Negros has perpetrated 23 summary executions of civilians, including three barangay captains and a kagawad, in Guihulngan alone, excluding other civilians also liquidated by assassins of the Jean Pelle Command in northern Negros, from 2002 to 2008.

Linantuyan barangay officials in Guihulngan headed by village chairman Elpedio Villar executed a joint affidavit, claiming that they were threatened by Felipe Gelle, who identified himself as a member of Karapatan-Negros, and Dionesio Baloy, alias Boy, that they will be all killed if the military abandons the barangay.

On June 11 and 12, rebels ambushed a group of civilians, escorted by soldiers, in Brgy. Trinidad, and fired M203 grenade launchers and automatic rifles at Brgy. Linantuyan proper, Thursday night, although nobody was injured, except that a house near a military outpost was rocked with an explosion of a grenade launcher.

Lt. Col. Franco Nemesio Gacal, 11th Infantry Battalion commander, said the Leonardo Panaligan Command had repeatedly terrorized the people in Brgys. Trinidad and Linantuyan, who used to be their supporters and sympathizers.

Villar said the rebels ruled Brgy. Linantuyan, which is 30 kilometers from the Guihulngan poblacion, for more than five years now.

Kagawad Benerando Turtur said each of the barangay official had been required by rebels to pay P100 a month, P5 and a ganta of rice or corn for each of the 500 families in the barangay, which are being collected by rebels and supervised by Lourdes Baloy, chairperson of peasant group KAUGMAON.

Turtur said it only stopped when the 11th Infantry Battalion soldiers led by 1Lt. Joseph Buencamino arrived in the barangay on March, to drive away the rebels.

De los Reyes, in a dialogue with Linantuyan barangay officials in Guihulngan during the weekend, rallied them to remain united. “Let’s finish the job that we have already started,” he added.

Gacal said the series of rebel attacks against civilians who are no longer supporting them, is a desperate move for them to save their dwindling mass bases, and an attempt to re-assert whatever influence left on them to recover guerilla base areas.*GPB

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Man held up at
downtown Bacolod

A resident of Iloilo City lost his cash and valuables to a still unidentified robber in Bacolod City yesterday, police reports said.

Two other persons also lost their money and properties to thieves during the weekend, police reports added.

Andres Gayares, 58, of Guimbal, Iloilo, reported to Police Station 1 that an unidentified man choked him from behind, declared a hold-up, and took his wallet with P1,500 in cash, his Professional Regulatory Commission license card, and ID’s, while he was walking along Gatuslao-Gonzaga streets, in Bacolod, at about 3:30 a.m. yesterday.

The thief told him not to shout and just give him the wallet, Gayares said.

Meanwhile, Cherry Develos, 33, of St. Francis Subdivision, Silay City, Negros Occidental, reported told Police Station 2 investigators that two unidentified persons grabbed her shoulder bag while she was on a jeepney plying the Mandalagan route, at about 9:15 p.m. Friday.

Develos said she lost three cellphones, bankcards, a coin purse, a bottle of cologne, a notebook, ID’s, a wallet with P3,000 in cash, and an envelope with P10,000.

Janice Conserman, 22, of Brgy. Mandalagan, Bacolod, on the other hand, reported to Police Station 1 that an unidentified person slashed her bag and took an envelope with P8,500 in cash, while she was on a jeepney plying the Bata-Libertad route, at about 9 a.m. Friday.*PP

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