‘NPA expanding hit list’

After former New People’s Army (NPA) chieftain Romulo Kintanar, three Cabinet members and a military colonel are allegedly next on the hit list of a special squad formed by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

A highly placed source in the military intelligence community told The STAR yesterday that aside from Kintanar, Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople, Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, President Arroyo’s chief of staff Rigoberto Tiglao and Col. Victor Corpus, chief of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), have been marked for liquidation by a special operations group of the newly formed "National Partisan Command" of the CPP-NPA.

The source said the CPP-NPA National Partisan Command was ordered formed by self-exiled communist leader Jose Ma. Sison, who handpicked a certain "Leo Velasco" to head the group.

Velasco now has full control over several hit squads tasked to carry out the assassinations, the source said.

"Reports on hand showed that aside from these key government officials, the CPP-NPA has marked at least 20 other high-profile personalities as their next targets," the source said.

The disclosure prompted Malacañang to order the security of Cabinet officials beefed up.

In a hastily called news conference, President Arroyo expressed concern over the security of her Cabinet members, particularly mentioning Tiglao who was once part of the communist movement.

"This is a very cruel assassination and we must not allow this to continue… (it) should not be repeated. We also have to beef up the security measures of goverment officials like Tiglao," Mrs. Arroyo said.

Tiglao, for his part, said he "is more than willing to fight and die for our nation."

"I am confident that none of my many comrades of three decades ago, now in the (Communist) Party hierarchy both here in the country and in Utrecht (where Sison is in self-exile), believes that I have done anything to deserve a murder order from the Communist Party (of the Philippines) or any group," Tiglao said.

The First Quarter Storm (FQS) Foundation, an organization of anti-Marcos activists, also expressed concern over the inclusion of Tiglao on the supposed hit list.

Ople, meanwhile, said he will not be intimidated by any threats on his life.

"I take them in stride as part of the price that must be paid for being in the public service," Ople said.

He said a possible reason why he is being targetted for assassination was his campaign in convincing the European Union to declare the CPP-NPA as foreign terrorist organizations and Sison as a "terrorist."

Reyes, for his part, dismissed the threats, saying all military and defense officers "usually eat threats for breakfast."

"All threats are inherent with our jobs at the defense department and in the military establishment," he said.

The source pointed out Reyes played an active role in pushing for the continued stay of American military forces in the country.

Tiglao and Corpus, the source added, are being accused by Sison for turning their backs on the communist movement and providing the government vital information in its operations.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane also confirmed intelligence reports that the CPP-NPA is now geared to "waste" some people in the government.

By all indications, Ebdane said, the CPP-NPA is behind the killing. "They have the ones who have a motivation to do it," he said.

PNP intelligence director Chief Superintendent Robert Delfin said the group headed by Velasco has in his disposal other top NPA cadres — Philip Limjuco and Bartolome Melchor — whom he described as "seasoned" NPA leaders "exposed in this type of dirty jobs."

Delfin said the group was formed two years ago under the instructions of CPP titular head Benito Tiamson.

Both Limjuco and Melchor were pulled out from Southern and Central Luzon Commands of the NPA to assume their new posts, Delfin said.

"They were former members of the Armed City Partisans which later became the Alex Boncayao Brigade. They are very much involved in liquidation activities," Delfin said.

Delfin, who arrested Kintanar in 1998, recalled that the former NPA leader confided to him last week about the threat coming from his former comrades.

"He (Kintanar) also said he was tired of the revolution. He’s been there for 22 years," he said.

About a year ago, Delfin said Limjuco met with Kintanar to disclose to his former comrade that he (Limjuco) was ordered to kill him (Kintanar).

"Limjuco cannot take it. He informed Kintanar and some of his colleagues tried to work things out after that. (But Kintanar) was used to living underground. He knew of the danger since he started going to the mainstream," Delfin said.

Delfin, however, refused to name possible targets, adding he could also be part of the supposed hit list.

"They warned me and I warned them too," referring to former NPA leaders who later became his friends.

During a briefing yesterday at Camp Aguinaldo, Armed Forces chief Gen. Dionisio Santiago also confirmed moves by communist guerrilla leaders in reviving NPA liquidation squads.

"There is nothing new to this. This is just a reactivation of the old Sparrow unit formed in the early ’70s," Santiago said, referring to the group of armed men who gunned down Kintanar inside a Quezon City restaurant last Thursday.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said they are focusing on the possibility that Kintanar was killed by his former comrades.

NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco said it could also be possible that Kintanar could have developed enemies while working as head of security at the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and consultant of the National Electrification Administration. (NEA). — With reports from Jose Rodel Clapano, Aurea Calica, Artemio Dumlao, Mike Frialde