CHR to probe Negros ambush

BACOLOD City, Philippines – The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is sending a team to Negros Occidental to investigate last Sunday’s ambush-killing in La Castellana town, which the military dubbed as a “massacre of civilians.”

CHR chairperson Loretta Ann Rosales has ordered the creation of a 10-man team from her agency’s national and Western Visayas offices to conduct the fact-finding investigation in Barangay Puso, La Castellana, according to CHR-Bacolod head Romeo Baldevarona.

More than 300 empty shells of assorted high-powered firearms, including an AK 47 assault rifle, were recovered at the ambush site believed perpetrated by the New People’s Army (NPA), the military said.

Killed were PO1 Richard Canja, who police believed was the real target of the ambushers; Jonathan Mateo, Ulysses Tamayor and Ramil Compleza, members of the Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team (BPAT) of the Cabacungan police outpost; barangay tanod (watchmen) Mario Ricablanca and Timoteo Esplegera; driver Ricky Dingcong; and civilians Lito Lucban and Virginia Ordoñez.

The victims were onboard a Fuso Canter truck on their way home to the La Castellana town proper, after attending a fiesta in Barangay Puso, when they were waylaid. The policemen and BPAT members were requested to secure the fiesta celebration in the village.

Two other policemen, PO2 Jeffrey Alvarez and PO3 Constantino Villegas, and 10 other civilians were wounded in the attack. As of Tuesday, they were in stable condition, said Senior Superintendent Celestino Guara Jr., acting Negros Occidental police director.

Based on the survivors’ accounts, Guara said NPA rebels were responsible for the attack. The NPA though has not yet issued a statement on the ambush.    

Maj. Gen. Jose Mabanta, commander of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, said police would file charges against the communist rebels.

“Even as we continue to call for peace toward the NPA, this will not go unpunished. They have blatantly violated human rights and sowed terror among the people living peacefully in the area,” he said.

“The inhumane act of the NPA is unacceptable. Their desire to show that they are still a force to reckon with in the region causes more harm than good,” Mabanta said. 

For his part, Armed Forces chief Gen. Emmanuel Bautista yesterday said the ambush should serve as a “wake-up call” on the need to promote peace. 

“The incident is saddening. We offered our brothers a chance to resolve issues in a peaceful manner and that remains to be our position,” Bautista said in a press briefing. 

“Armed violence is not the solution to our problems. That is what we offered on the (negotiating) table – a choice between continued violence and peace,” he added.– With Alexis Romero