Charcoal maker eludes NPA execution

Charcoal maker Jesus Lasala, 42, was waiting for his wife and four kids at their house in a remote village in Juban, Sorsogon on March 18 when three unexpected and heavily armed visitors forcibly took him.

The men were members of the New People’s Army (NPA) and they arrested Lasala, whom they said was tried and sentenced to death in absentia by the rebels’ court on trumped-charges of rape, a crime Lasala claimed he never committed.

From his residence in Sitio Jagusara, Barangay Lajong, Lasala was taken by his "captors" to Sitio Belwang where he joined three other detainees on the rebels’ "death row."

The three were sentenced to death for various offenses and were executed in the next three consecutive days.

Lasala escaped on the eve of his execution on March 21 and proceeded to the headquarters of the 2nd Infantry Battalion to seek help.

His disappearance was reported to the authorities by his wife Rosalina to Lt. Col. Benigno Antonio II, commanding officer of the Army unit. Antonio immediately launched combat operations against the rebels. In the afternoon of March 21, an Army team led by Lt. Orly Libelo, caught up Lasala’s rebel abductors.

In the fighting that ensued, NPA commander Allan Villare of Barangay Calateo, also in Juban town, was killed.

Recovered from Villare’s position was a M16 rifle and election campaign materials of five partylist groups – Kabataan Party, Gabriela Womens’ Party, Anakpawis, Bayan Muna and Suara Bangsa Moro – found inside a backpack.

Tolentino said the documents only showed that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the NPA are actively helping left-wing partylist groups win in the May 14 elections. – Jaime Laude