NPAs gun down village chief in Camarines Sur

MANILA, Philippines - Suspected communist rebels killed on Sunday two civilians in separate incidents around the Bicol region, the military said.

In a statement, the Army’s 9th Infantry Division spokesman Maj. Harold Cabunoc identified the victims as Maritess Toldanes, a village chief in Balatan, Camarines Sur and Rodrigo Felonia, a former militia man based in Sorsogon.

Lt. Col. Ernesto Cruz, commander of the 42nd Infantry Battalion, said Toldanes was gunned down by three suspected members of the New People’s Army outside her residence at around 1:30 p.m.

Toldanes, a resident of Pulang Daga village in Balatan town, sustained a gunshot wound in the head and chest. Investigators found spent .45 caliber pistol shells near the crime scene.

Cruz said the slain village captain had received death threats because of her refusal to support the insurgents, who reportedly demanded extortion money from her.

“Barangay captain Toldanes openly cooperated with the military in its peace and development programs, earning the ire of the NPA terrorists. It is aggravated by the fact that she has a son-in-law and also a son who are serving the Philippine Army,” Cruz said in a statement released by the 9th ID.

On the other hand, the military said Felonia was shot to death by two rebels while walking towards his house in Poblacion Sur, Barcelona, Sorsogon around 9:30 a.m.

Col. Leoncio Cirunay, commander of the 22nd Infantry Battalion, said Felonia sustained multiple gunshot wounds in different parts of his body. Recovered near the crime scene were seven spent shells for .45 caliber pistol and 15 spent shells for 9mm pistol.

Cirunay said Felonia used to belong to a Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) being supervised by his battalion.

“My intelligence operatives had received information that Felonia had been receiving death threats from NPA rebels who accused him of wrongdoings,” he said.

Cabunoc said the rebels have so far perpetrated six extrajudicial killings in Bicol this year. He said a total of 52 people, 30 of them civilians, had been killed by insurgents in the region last year.

Maj. Gen. Ruperto Pabustan, 9th ID commander, has ordered the Army’s legal officer to help the victims’ relatives file criminal charges and complaints of human rights violations against those behind the killings.