EDITORIAL – A violent life

He tried to turn his back on a life of violence, but that’s easier said than done when you are Romulo Kintanar, former chieftain of the communist New People’s Army. Kintanar headed the NPA during its heyday, when the communist movement had not yet been discredited worldwide and its local cadres had not yet been reduced to extortion and other criminal activities to survive.

Kintanar was finishing his lunch the other day in a restaurant in Quezon City when two men approached his table and opened fire. As he lay bloodied on the floor, one of the gunmen finished him off with another shot. In his final moments Kintanar was engaged in an innocuous pursuit: he was having lunch with a film director, discussing a possible movie about his life.

Kintanar turned his back on the rebel movement in 1992, upon his release from prison. He became active in cooperatives and even ventured into politics and government. Some investigators said the murder bore the markings of a communist hit, but others said the killers could also be cops, soldiers or even Kintanar’s business rivals. In short, as of yesterday investigators were facing a blank wall. President Arroyo, visiting Kintanar’s wake, announced she had created a task force headed by Chief Superintendent Romeo Maganto. That doesn’t sound too promising. Maganto hasn’t even finished his previous assignment from the Chief Executive: the capture of fugitive police officer Rafael Cardeño, suspected brains behind the murder of Baron Cervantes.

The lack of clear leads did not prevent some police officers from pinpointing communist rebels as the most likely culprits. Others added that the next on the rebels’ hit list were certain government officials, particularly those who were once part of the communist movement. Exiled communist leader Jose Ma. Sison denied involvement in the murder and said Kintanar had made too many enemies.

Kintanar was arguably more successful as a rebel than as a law-abiding citizen. But he was not the only rebel who found out that living an ordinary life could be even tougher than leading a rebellion. Shorn of his notoriety, Kintanar still stood out as a man who abandoned the ways of violence and embraced peace. Whoever was responsible for his murder, this is one case the government must solve.