NPA rebels kill lumad leader, son

DAVAO CITY – Suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels shot dead a lumad leader and his son in Talaingod, Davao del Norte yesterday.

Witnesses said Banadjao Mampaundag and his son Jhonard were in their house in Sitio Igang, Barangay Palma Gil, Talaingod when Tagalog-speaking rebels who posed as soldiers entered and shot them several times at around 4 a.m.

Responding medical personnel failed to bring the victims to a hospital when a bomb believed to be planted by the rebels went off as the ambulanced passed. The bodies of the victims have yet to be retrieved in Sitio Igang.

Mampaundang was reportedly among more than 1,000 lumad leaders who attended the Indigenous Peo- ple’s Leaders Summit at Camp Panacan in this city on Friday.

The military said the perpetrators of the gun attack were still in the area yesterday afternoon.

In Sultan Kudarat, eight NPA guerrillas surrendered in Bagumbayan town on Saturday.

The rebels, who were led by a certain Romeo Dongco, surrendered through the intercession of officials of the 33rd Infantry Battalion, Bagumbayan Mayor Jonalette de Pedro and town police director Chief Inspector Garyflor Marfil, Capt. Arvin Encinas, public affairs officer of the 6th Infantry Division, said.

The surrender came two days after Sultan Kudarat Gov. Pax Mangudadatu released P20,000 in assistance to each of the 32 rebels who surrendered in the last quarter of 2017.