NPA rebels execute 3 Cotabato village execs…

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao — New People’s Army guerrillas executed in public the chairman and two other officials of a remote barangay in Tulunan, North Cotabato the other day.

Maj. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the victims — Alfonso Igniam, 34, chairman of Barangay Bakung; councilman Victor Tadem, 42; and barangay treasurer Armando Duco, 27 — were on their way to the town proper of Tulunan when the rebels blocked their path and shot them in front of commuters and residents.

The rebels left a written statement, saying the NPA’s Guerrilla Front 72 meted death on the three barangay officials for their alleged involvement in cattle-rustlings and other offenses and for allegedly abusing their authority.

But military sources said the slain barangay officials could have earned the NPA’s ire for rejecting its demand for monthly "protection money." — John Unson