Spate of Killings Greeted the Creation of the AFP
Human Rights Office
CAMP ELIAS ANGELES, Pili, CamSur - The creation of the AFP Human Rights
Office was greeted by the spate of killings blamed on the communist
terrorists in the Bicol Region, a military official said here today.
Colonel Leoncio Cirunay, Operations Officer of the 9th Infantry
Division, said that Fernando Candia, 68, of Sitio Tico-tico
(sub-village) in Taysan village, Legaspi City was gunned down by a lone
gunman inside a passenger jeepney in Resettlement Site area in Legaspi
City at around 12:30pm yesterday (December 3). Cirunay said that the
latest killing followed the brutal murder of Ernesto Manago, 52, another
village watchman from the same village who was killed on November 24.
"We condemn the series of murders committed by suspected members of the
CPP-NPA's special partisan unit (SPARU). After killing two of our
soldiers last month, they are now turning their wrath on their suspected
military informants among the civilian populace," said Cirunay in a
statement released to the local media.
Eyewitnesses accounts stated that Candia was on board a public utility
jeep with at least 10 other passengers when a gunman suddenly pulled a
gun and shot the victim at close range. Candia sustained multiple
gunshot wounds including a head shot which resulted to his instantaneous
death.
Two innocent civilians were also hurt by the shooting. Lilia Abane, 41,
and her young son Joel, 12, were hit by bullet splinters and stray
bullets. The duo were brought to a local hospital and were declared as
'out of danger' by attending physicians.
"I stopped to unload a passenger when I heard gunshots behind me. The
assailant immediately fled on board a motorcycle which was parked
nearby, No one among us were able to identify the assailant who was
wearing a cap," said Joefer Mangampo, the driver of the passenger
jeepney where the killing was committed.
Two other people lay dead in another unsolved killing which occurred in
Donsol town in Sorsogon on December 1 when the group of a local
politician was ambushed by motorcycle-riding gunmen while coming from a
campaign sortie.
The military has tagged the communist rebel group in most of the
killings in the Bicol Region which has claimed the lives of at least 45
people .
The 'reds' have claimed responsibility in some of the killings which the
military claimed as solid examples of human rights violations. In CY
2010 alone, 6 soldiers and 8 militiamen were killed in the series of
extra-judicial killings perpetrated by the NPA bandit group members.
On November 22, 2010, the local bandit group in Camarines Sur admitted
the killing of a certain Francis Obrero of Itangon village in Bula town.
"We punish Obrero for being a military informant which is a serious
offense in our organization (CPP-NPA-NDF)," an official CPP-NPA document
released to the media said.
The 9th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army has assisted the filing
of criminal charges against the members of the communist rebel group who
were tagged as behind the latest murders.
The Army's Human Rights Office in the Bicol Region is also helping the
relatives of the victims in filing a complaint (on human rights
violations) against the CPP-NPA, before the regional office of the
Commission of Human Rights
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