Task force created to investigate Negros ambush

NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines – The Police Regional Office (PRO) 6 has ordered the creation of a task force to look into the ambush in La Castellana town in this province last weekend that left nine people dead and 12 injured.

Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr., PRO 6 director, yesterday said that Special Investigation Task Group Las Castellana will be headed by Senior Superintendent Celestino Guara Jr., currently the officer-in-charge of Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office (NOPPO).

Killed were Police Officer 1 Richard Canja of the La Castellana police station; barangay councilmen Lito Lucban, Teotimo Espleguera and Mario Ricablanca; Ulysses Camayor, Jonathan Mateo and Ramil Trompeta who were members of a local peacekeeping team; driver Ricky Dingcong, and civilian Virginia Ordoez.

Authorities identified the wounded as PO2 Jeffrey Alvarez, PO3 Constantino Villegas, Roger Behar, Jerry Lacuedo, Jamil Roma, Jason Oximar, Bonifacio Bayate, Cristituto Perolino, and Victoriano Donasco.

The victims were on board a Fuso Canter truck on their way home to La Castellana town proper after attending a fiesta in Barangay Puso when the ambush, believed to have been perpetrated by the New People’s Army (NPA), took place.

All the victims had multiple gunshot wounds in the head.

The task force will be composed of two units from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB) that will investigate, and military personnel to conduct pursuit operations against the suspects.

Cruz said the attack could be considered the “biggest and most barbaric attack by the NPAs on civilians in Western Visayas in recent years.” 

Cruz said they could not accept the statement of the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA that the incident was carried out by regulars but was not sanctioned by higher leadership.

“The incident involved civilians who were unarmed,” he said.

Cruz said that one of the witnesses told them that when the rebels opened the truck and saw the policeman, one of them gave orders to finish him off. The victims were pleading for their lives but they were still shot at close range.

Police recovered 300 spent shells of M16 and M14 Armalite rifles, caliber .45 pistol and AK-47.

Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. said the ambushers might have been high on drugs because the manner of execution defied human reason. However, he doubts that the rebels committed the crime “as it is not the trait of the NPA to involve civilians in their attack.” 

Col. Francisco Patrimonio, 302nd Infantry Brigade commander, said that about 20 communist rebels who perpetrated the ambush had shifted their operations from Guihulngan, Negros Oriental, to the hinterlands of Isabela and La Castellana due to sustained military pressure on them.

Avelino Ordones, who survived the ambush, said the victims, including three policemen, and members of the barangay peacekeeping action team (BPAT) of Cabacungan police outpost, had been requested to help secure the fiesta of Barangay Puso, a mountainous area about 20 kilometers away from La Castellana proper.

Another survivor, Edwin Sevilla, a BPAT member stationed at a police outpost in Barangay Cabacungan, said the armed suspects shouted “Mabuhay ang NPA!”

Col. Oscar Lactao, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, said they are also considering illegal logging as a possible motive because the ambush site is near the place where a forest ranger was killed late last year.  The suspect of that incident is reportedly a resident of the area. A policeman was also linked to the killing of the forest ranger.

Romeo Baldevarona, provincial chief of the Commission on Human Rights, said they will also investigate the incident.  Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr. said the ambush violated the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law as it victimized non-combatants.

“Despite our openness to the rebels returning to the democratic fold, the NPA continues to wage armed violence, disrupt the peace-building initiatives of the government and even disrespect the peace process,” Burgos said in a statement.

“Moreover, they continue to capitalize on soft targets, often relying on inhumane tactics including the use of improvised explosive devices, conduct of ambuscades, extortion activities, and sabotage of vital economic facilities,” he added.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the attack showed the true intentions of the rebels.

“They introduce the true objective of their organization and they do not distinguish soldiers from civilians,” Gazmin said in a chance interview.

Palace still verifying reports

Meanwhile, Malacañang condemned the ambush and said the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Department of National Defense (DND) were verifying whether these attacks were the handiwork of communist rebels.

“This particular vehicle was not a military vehicle. It was a Fuso Canter truck and so we condemn the assault on civilians who should not be parties to this heinous act. We’re still verifying and PNP is the lead agency here because one of their personnel was killed and two others were injured,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a press briefing. 

Lacierda said the Palace would wait for updates from the PNP and the AFP, which was also coordinating with the police in pursuit operations.

He said once it is verified that the ambush was indeed committed by the NPA, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process would take the necessary action. – With Alexis Romero, Danny Dangcalan, Aurea Calica