4 GOVERNMENT ‘INFORMANTS’ KILLED IN NEGROS ORIENTAL CITY
BACOLOD CITY—The mayor of Guihulngan City in Negros Oriental province has appealed for an end to violence in his city following the death of four persons who were killed inside their homes in the village of Trinidad on May 14.
Mayor Carlo Jorge Joan Reyes said the victims could have been killed on suspicion that they tipped off government troops about the presence of communist guerillas in the area, which led to an encounter on March 23 that left at least 10 suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels dead.
“This is simply too much hardship and pain inflicted.
Have sympathy for the people of Guihulngan. Leave us in peace,” said the mayor in a message addressed to the NPA.
Authorities identified the fatalities in Friday’s attack as Ronelo Quirante, 56; Roger Fat, 46; and spouses Rodrigo Lubay, 46, and Celerina, 44.
Initial police reports said armed men barged into the victims’ homes around 5 a.m. and shot them multiple times using high-powered firearms.
“The victims were killed inside the sanctity of their own homes. I call on our constituents and law enforcement agencies to unite against these atrocities,” he said.
“Let us work together so that these people can never sow terror in any single sitio (subvillage) in any of our 33 barangays (villages),” he added.
Unsolved killings
In a separate statement, the Philippine Army’s 62nd Infantry Battalion said revenge could be the motive behind the attack as the four were believed to be government informants.
Friday’s attack was the third incident involving the NPA in Barangay Trinidad, Guihulngan City this year.
Guihulngan, 138 kilometers north of the provincial capital of Dumaguete City, has had the most number of civilians killed on Negros Island since January 2017, based on records of human rights groups.
Among the fatalities were five Guihulngan residents Red-tagged by a local anticommunist group Kawsa Guihulnganon Batok Komunista or Kagubak, which translates to Concerned Guihulnganons against Communists.
The latest victim was Briccio Nuevo Jr., 71, a lay minister who was shot dead by a motorcycle-riding gunman on May 4 in Barangay Poblacion while he was at a vulcanizing shop.
On Dec. 15 last year, two gunmen killed Dr. Mary Rose Sancelan and her husband Edwin a year after she was Red-tagged.
The doctor, who was the city’s health officer, was on top of Kagubak’s list of local residents tagged as communist rebels or sympathizers, claiming she was the spokesperson of the NPA’s Apolinario Gatmaitan Command operating on Negros Island and had assumed the name “Ka JB Regalado.” The claim was denied by the NPA.
Another prominent resident on Kagubak’s list, lawyer Anthony Trinidad, was gunned down on July 23, 2019.
Their killings remained unsolved.