NPA rebels shoot brgy chief dead

BACOLOD CITY — The New People’s Army rebels on Thursday gunned down the barangay chairman of Panciao in Manjuyod town of Negros Oriental, making him the fifth barangay official to be killed since June this year.

Captain Allen Mark Tacorda, 62nd Infantry Battalion’s Civil Military Operations officer, yesterday said three still unidentified members of the NPA shot Panciao Barangay Chairman Mario Gonzales in front of the latter’s house. Gonzales died on the spot due to multiple gunshot wounds. Gonzales was the fifth barangay chairman killed in central Negros, including two in Isabela, Negros Occidental, and two more in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental, since June 12 this year, police and military records show.

In February this year, Gonzales was presiding over the session of the Panciao Barangay Council, when they were interrupted by armed NPA rebels, who later took his shotgun and .357-caliber revolver at his residence.

Tacorda said Gonzales had identified rebel amazon Myles Albasin and five others — who were captured the following month by soldiers in an encounter with 62nd IB soldiers — as among those who ransacked his house and took his firearms.

Gonzales however did not press charges against Albasin, but before he was killed last Thursday, the barangay official tried to resign from his post but was convinced not to do so.

Lieutenant Colonel Egberto Dacoscos, 62nd IB commander, lauded Gonzales for bravery against threats from the rebels, but condemned the continued killing rampage of the NPA terrorists in central Negros, victimizing civilians and barangay officials. He said this has been a clear violation of human rights and the International Humanitarian Law.

Ka JB Regalado, for his part, slammed military officials for their continued denial that slain former barangay chairman Agapito Euroba of San Agustin, Libas Barangay Chairmen Rhoy Pagapang and Joemarie Saracia were not military agents.

Regalado, in a statement, also condemned the human rights violations allegedly committed by the 94th Infantry Battalion, especially the launching of military operations in the hinterlands of Moises Padilla and Isabela towns in Negros Occidental, as well as in the cities of Guihulngan and Canlaon in Negros Oriental.