• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The New People’s Army (NPA) has claimed responsibility for the death of their former comrade in Calatrava, Negros Occidental whom they also alleged as an intelligence asset of the Philippine Army.
The victim identified as Leonardo Nepalar, 63, succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds after he was shot by four armed rebels at Spur 2 in Barangay Minapasok on June 17.
He was declared dead on arrival at the Calatrava Municipal Hospital, according to the police.
In a statement dated June 19, the Roselyn Jean Pelle Command claimed that Nepalar was killed because he allegedly was an intelligence operative of the 79th Infantry Battalion (IB).
First Lt. Dan Samoza, 79IB civil-military operations officer, dismissed the claims against Nepalar as a “diversionary and dilapidated tactic” to justify the killing of an innocent civilian.
Six fired cartridges and a deformed slug of a .45 caliber firearm were recovered by the police at the scene of the incident.
Calatrava Mayor Marilyn Era, who strongly condemned the senseless attack, debunked the accusations that the victim was among her alleged “goons”.
“It is a complete lie and has no basis,” she said.
Era said that Nepalar was a job order personnel under the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Program, noting that he had been assigned to the upland areas even before she was elected mayor.
“I want to make it clear: I do not have the financial capacity to keep or maintain goons nor do I need to. I am now 73 years old and a grandmother. Why would I need goons? I only have the proper security escorts as mandated by law,” she added. | GB
