The family of a suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebel who was killed in an encounter with government forces in Barangay Tala-on, La Libertad, Negros Oriental has claimed his body and buried it immediately, a police official said on Wednesday, Feb. 12.
Lt. Stephen Polinar, spokesperson of the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office (NOPPO), said Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) “retrieved the body on Tuesday afternoon and brought it to the town proper for autopsy.”
In the evening of the same day, relatives and the village chief of Barangay Tala-on claimed the body, brought it back to the mountains, and buried it around midnight.
The suspected NPA rebel was identified as Rolito Apatan Tanillon, tagged by the military as a member of the dismantled Central Negros 1 Front of the Komiteng Rehiyon-Negros, Cebu, Bohol, and Siquijor.
Tanillon was among the four armed men who engaged members of the Philippine Army’s 62nd Infantry Battalion in a firefight in Barangay Tala-on on Monday evening.
Military and police authorities believe the group was behind the burning of heavy equipment in Barangay Aya in La Libertad on the evening of Feb. 8.
The local government unit of La Libertad facilitated the burial of the deceased.*PNA