- GILBERT BAYORAN
Following a series of killings of civilians claimed by the Leonardo Panaligan Command (LPC) of the New People’s Army, pursuing government troopers Tuesday, April 18, caught up with some of the perpetrators, following an encounter in Sitio Lower Tiyos, Brgy. Quintin Remo, Moises Padilla in Negros Occidental.
Mary Liza Joy De Guzman, 62nd Infantry Battalion acting Civil Military Operations chief, said that the encounter lasted for about five minutes before the rebels scampered to various directions and left behind their slain comrade at the encounter site.
Based on the statements of former rebels, De Guzman said the slain rebel was identified as Jose Albores Jr., alias Ka Jojo, a member of the Central Negros 1, also known as the LPC.
Recovered at the encounter site were a KG9 automatic pistol, a hand grenade, and personal belongings.
De Guzman also said that Albores was a known rebel leader and among the heads of the “Kangaroo Court”, or the NPA justice system, in the boundaries of Moises Padilla, La Castellana, and Isabela in Negros Occidental, as well as Canlaon and Guihulngan cities in Negros Oriental.
Albores was also among those responsible for the deaths of several civilians, including their comrades whom they tagged as military informants, De Guzman added.
The encounter ensued as 62IB soldiers went after the rebels, believed to be behind the death of a civilian identified as Jorge Javier April 16, in Sitio Guibawan, Brgy. Bucalan, Canlaon City, Negros Oriental.
In a statement, Ka JB Regalado, spokesman of the LPC, claimed that Javier served as an intelligence asset of the 62IB and a member of the Barangay Intelligence Network (BIN).
Regalado claimed that Javier served as a military guide in various combat operations of the 62IB that resulted in the killing of Cristina Jacolbe, a daycare worker and her 16-year-old daughter, Everly Kee, and Rodan Montero in July last year in Sitio Banderahan, Guihulngan City, as well as the deaths of Victor Baldonado November last year, and of Ernesto Fat in January this year.
The rebel spokesman claimed that they recovered a 357 Magnum revolver and a KG 9 automatic pistol with ammunition and a BIN identification card.
The death of Javier also came a day after 62IB soldiers and policemen arrested Jerry Montefalcon, alias Ka Bulhot, in Brgy. Budlasan, Canlaon City, who has pending arrest warrants for the crime of murder as well as illegal possession of firearms and explosives./GB
