A barangay kagawad of Bandila, Toboso, tagged by the military to be a member of the New People’s Army was charged Tuesday with illegal possession of firearms before the San Carlos City Prosecutor’s Office.

Police Senior Inspector Nasser Canja yesterday identified the respondent as Antonio Demalerio.

Canja, Toboso police officer-in-charge, however, said the alleged companions of Demalerio, identified as Melvin Pacatang and his son, Hernani, who were released last week from the police jail, were not included in the complaints.

Demalerio, Pacatang and his son were captured by soldiers at the encounter site, where they figured in armed skirmishes with suspected NPA rebels in Sitio Malig-on, Brgy. Bandila, Toboso, on Aug. 2, military records showed.

Demalerio, 55, vehemently denied military claims that he is affiliated with the NPA, stressing that he is a mere hacienda overseer.

The arrest of Demalerio, Pacatang and his son at the encounter site, yielded a homemade shotgun with eight live ammunition and subversive documents, five magazines of M1-6 assault rifles containing 19 ammunition, subversive documents, jungle hammocks, assorted medicine, three bolos and an ammunition link for an M-60 machine gun, as well as three CPP-NPA red flags.

Contrary to the claims of a human rights group, the three arrested showed no sign of physical abuse, as shown to a medical certificate issued by Dr. Agnes Bustillo, Medical Officer 4 of the Alfredo Maranon Sr. Memorial District Hospital in Brgy. Bato, Sagay City.

Bustillo, however, said Demalerio was diagnosed to be suffering from peptic ulcer.

In Purok Mabuhay 3, Brgy. 1 poblacion in Toboso, Negros Occidental, human skeletal remains were exhumed Tuesday.

Canja said the skeletal remains are believed to be those of someone who had been buried in the place for about five years.*GPB

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