Suspected NPAs shoot miner dead

BUTUAN CITY , Philippines  – Suspected New People’s Army rebels shot dead a miner and kidnapped two others in Barangay Calabcab, Maco, Compostela Valley Province Sunday evening, military report showed.

Captain Emmanuel Garcia, public affairs officer of the 10th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army identified the casualty as Felix Valiente Jr. while the kidnapped victims were identified as Jamil and Jimboy Valiente, brothers of the victim.

Garcia in his report said about eight NPAs arrived in the mining area of Pamintaran, a gold rush mining site in Barangay Calabcab, Maco town at about 9 p.m. Sunday when the suspected NPA rebels allegedly tried to convince the Valiente brothers to come back to the fold of the NPA.

After a long talk, a heated argument ensued then a volley of gunshots followed, witnesses claimed. At gunpoint, the suspects ordered the two remaining Valiente brothers to go along with them as they fled the crime scene.      – Ben Serrano