Cagayan police condemn Baggao official’s killing

(CPPO) in Tuguegarao City strongly condemned the killing of a councilor of Baggao town by members of the New People’s Army (NPA) as it dispatched a team to track down the assailants.

Senior Supt. Warren Gaspar Tolito, CPPO provincial director, said the attack that killed Councilor Angelo Figueras Luis, 56, is “a manifestation of the NPA’s crooked principle and ideology.”

“Their conviction is contrary to what they are trying to portray to the public as champions of social justice,” Tolito said.

On Saturday at about 7 a.m. Luis was killed by about 20 fully-armed men who barged into his house in Barangay Awallan and who also took away four

The NPA’s Henry Abraham East Cagayan Command has claimed responsibility for the killing of the of- the military in Cagayan Valley.

Following the killing, the provincial police chief urged the people of Cagayan to rally behind the government’s effort to stop extortion activities committed by the NPA rebels against local businessmen, traders and contractors.

“These activities of [NPA rebels] have been causing delays in the implementation of projects intended to improve the living condition of the people,” Tolito said.

He cited NPA rebels’ repeated burning of heavy equipment used to fast track the concreting of the national road going to Baggao town.

Meanwhile, the provincial police and the military have sent troops to track down the suspects who were reportedly seeking Kagurongan in Barangay Awallan.