Brutal death for NPA member turned CAFGU

BUTUAN – Military forces on Wednesday launched wide pursuit operations against New People’s Army (NPA) terrorists who allegedly murdered a member of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) Active Auxiliary (CAA) in Sitio Hagimitan, Barangay Bolhoon, San Miguel, Surigao del Sur, said Civil Military Operations (CMO) officer of the 36th Infantry (Valor) Battallion (36th IB) Capt. Francisco P. Garello, Jr.

In a statement sent to The Manila Bulletin on Wednesday, Garello disclosed that an undetermined number of NPA terrorists from the guerillaFront Committee 19 of the CPP-NPA Northeastern Mindanao Regional Committee went to the highland community of Hagimitan to confront Mar Acevedo Bocales, a former NPA member who has since surrendered and shifted loyalties to government forces.

Bocales was a member of the CAA unit in Los Arcos Patrol Base under the 9th Special Forces Company, 3rd Special Forces Battalion, and was also a resident of Purok 5, SitioHagimitan, Barangay Bolhoon.

“He was a former rebel who surrendered to the government bringing along his issued firearm last December 2016,” Garello said.

Quoting one of Bocales’ brothers, Garello said the victim was hog-tied and was cut in different parts of his body and head. He was eventually mutilated and beheaded.

“We recovered his head 5 meters away from his body and thrown away towards a cliff. He also had gunshot wounds at his chest. They really want him dead because they inflicted so much suffering to my brother,” Bocales’ brother Renan told Garello.

During that ill-fated day, the victim went to the mountainous area to look for a rare species of butterfly “alibangbang” to be sold to a butterfly collector to cover for the medical expenses of his sick child.

Unfortunately, the NPA terrorist caught up with him. He was on off – duty status and spending his time with his family, he said

“I’m worried right now because there is no one that will till our lands, the NPAs will surely grab our lands. Because of what happened, my sisterin-law was left alone to raise their children and has no means to sustain their livelihood”, the 36th IB CMO officer added, quoting the statement of Renan.