The four victims of separate Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental, killings on Friday, May 14, were allegedly targeted by the New People’s Army (NPA) because they suspected them to be government informants.
The separate shooting incidents in Barangay Trinidad occurred near the site of a recent encounter between the Philippine Army and the NPA that claimed the lives of 10 rebels and wounded another.
“The four were suspected by the NPAs to be responsible for the major setback they suffered during the encounter on March 23,” the Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade said in a statement Saturday, May 15.
In the police report, 45-year-old Rogelio Fat, a farmer, was preparing to pasture his livestock at around 5 a.m., when four unidentified men believed to be members of the NPA’s Special Partisan Unit arrived and shot him to death.
The wife of the victim disclosed that her husband was suspected to be a military and police informant, the police report said.
Thirty minutes later, 48-year-old Rodrigo Lubay, also a farmer, and his wife, 44-year-old Cerelina, were gunned down outside their home.
The son of the victims said his father went to the river, which was 50 meters away from their house, to take a bath when he was waylaid and shot to death by four unidentified armed men.
The wife of the victim, who went out after hearing the gunfire, was also shot, the police report said.
The victims were allegedly former supporters of the NPA, but were suspected to be informants of government troops, which led to their execution, a police report said.
After 30 minutes, at 6 a.m., farmer Ronelo Lara Quirante, 56, was also pasturing his cow near his house when he was waylaid and shot to death by three unidentified suspects.
Lt. Col. Melvin Flores, 62nd Infantry Battalion commander, said the civilians were killed in front of their families who were trembling in fear, crying and pleading for the lives of their loved ones.
The relatives of the victims were traumatized by the barbaric acts of the terrorist group, he added.
Col. Inocencio Pasaporte, 303rd IB commander, said, “the Army in strongest terms condemns the terroristic acts of the CPP-NPA who murdered the four innocent civilians. This only confirms the terroristic nature of their organization, which the Anti-Terrorism Council designates as a terrorist organization.”
“I call on the people of Guihulngan to remain steadfast in our goal of ending the CPP-NPA’s violence against the innocent civilians in the locality,” he added.*