Re-elected b’gay head killed in ambush

ILAGAN, Isabela – A re-elected village chief in a remote town here, who was a former insurgent-turned-anti-communist campaigner, was killed in an ambush by suspected New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas last Friday afternoon, the military said.

The victim, Nicolas Collado, chairman of Barangay Dibuluan, one of the few villages in San Mariano town where the NPA wields strong influence, was waylaid while walking, along with some supporters, in a forested area. He died on the spot due to three bullet wounds.

Army and police authorities believe that Collado’s being an anti-communist advocate had something to do with his killing, although probers did not discount politics as a result of the recent elections.

Col. Victor Felix, commander of the Army’s 502nd Infantry Brigade based in San Mariano, said Collado, a second-term barangay chairman, had been an active member of the 23rd Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit-Active Auxiliary since his return to the fold of the law in 1986.

The Army said the ambushers, some of them brandishing high-powered firearms, could be communist rebels led by one Rey Villadores, alias Barry Mango, who is affiliated with the Central Front under the Cagayan Valley Regional Party Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA.  

Collado’s barangay was earlier tagged as one of the 39 poll hot spots in the region due to strong NPA presence and past election-related violence.