Charges filed vs NPA ‘hit man’ for Kidapawan couple’s slay

KORONADAL CITY — Charges of double murder have been filed against an alleged member of the New People’s Army’s "Sparrow" unit tagged in the killing of a couple working as part-time journalists and once active left-wing activists in Kidapawan City last Monday afternoon.

The Sparrow unit is the "liquidation squad" of the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, supposed to go after abusive and corrupt government officials, men in uniform and suspected government spies.

Chief Superintendent German Doria, the new Central Mindanao police director, said double murder charges were filed against Dionisio Madanguit with the Kidapawan City prosecutor’s office in connection with the killing of George and Mazel Vigo.

Madanguit reportedly also faces charges for the killings of a barangay official and a North Cotabato municipal councilor.

Doria said Madanguit’s descriptions matched those provided by witnesses.

He said the NPA had suspected the Vigo couple of having provided information to the military that led to the killing of a certain Commander Benjie, leader of the CPP-NPA Guerrilla Front 51 operating in North Cotabato.

But the NPA Front 51 has denied having a hand in the Vigo killings.

"Walang dahilan para patawan ng revolutionary justice ang mag-asawang Vigo (There’s no reason to impose revolutionary justice on the Vigo couple). We did not kill them," the Magtanggol Roque Command of the NPA Front 51 said in a statement.

Instead, the NPA tagged the so-called "death squad" of the Armed Forces in the killing.

The NPA also belied the military’s claim that Madanguit was a member of its Sparrow unit. — Ramil Bajo