Iloilo police starts probe on activists’ abduction, slay try

ILOILO CITY – Police began its investigation into the abduction of two left-wing leaders by focusing on the slay try on human rights activist Jose Eli Garachico Thursday.

Superintendent Renato Gumban, 6th Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) regional chief, said the focus of the probe is on Garachico, whose description of his attackers could help trace the whereabouts of his two missing colleagues.

Garachico, vice chairman of the Panay chapter of the human rights group Karapatan, survived the ambush by unidentified gunmen who blocked his vehicle Thursday night.

The gunmen, however, snatched Garachico’s two companions, Nilo Arado, chairman of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-Panay chapter, and Maria Luisa Posa-Dominado of Selda, a support group for political detainees.

Gumban said they are preparing the sketches of the gunmen and the abductors based on the description provided of Garachico.

Gumban said they are not discounting the possibility that some military men were involved.

He said investigators are also looking into another angle that other rival groups might have been involved in the abduction and slay try.

Gumban said the victims’ pickup truck was later found burned down near Janluay town, a known territory of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army (RPA).

Garachico was dragged out of the pickup truck he was driving by one of the gunmen before he was shot.

The victims were on their way back to Iloilo City from San Jose, Antique when they were blocked by the suspects in a Mitsubishi L-300 van. The victims were campaigning for the Anakpawis party-list group.