Ambush in Iloilo RPA-abb leader killed

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — The provincial leader of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB) in Iloilo was killed after he was ambushed by suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA) Friday afternoon.

Joven Tababa, 45, who belonged to the RPA-ABB’s Nilo de la Cruz faction, succumbed to 11 gunshot injuries from an M16 armalite rifle and a .45-caliber pistol.

Police accounts said that Tababa had just fetched his 7-year old daughter from school and was driving a motorcycle on their way to Brgy. Bagacay in Tigbauan, Iloilo, when three armed men tried to flag them down.

Tababa maneuvered his motorcycle and made a U-turn until he and his daughter fell down on the pavement.

He then ran and left his daughter behind, but past 25 meters away, he was shot by the pursuing assailants and tumbled on the ground with multiple gunshot injuries.

The gunmen immediately left the area and were presumed to have taken the victim’s own .45-caliber pistol. They however left his daughter physically unharmed.

According to Sr. Insp. Janelo Gepana, Tigbauan Police chief, the ongoing conflict between the NPAs and the breakaway RPA-ABB could be one of the motives of the killing.

Investigators also considered a land conflict in Tigbauan village where Tababa stood as witness, but another source, who requested anonymity, said the incident was election-related considering that the victim was allegedly connected with a political kingpin in the first district of Iloilo.

“We believed that the NPA rebels are supporting another candidate. If Tababa’s benefactor will win, the NPA group will be starved of support from their own candidate,” the source added.

The Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa-Pilipinas (RPM-P)/RPA-ABB group was formed after a series of splits within the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

Sometime in 1998, the Metro Manila-based ABB led by Nilo de la Cruz merged with Arturo Tabara’s political party, RPM-P, and its armed wing, the RPA, which were mainly based in the Visayas.

De la Cruz was considered the group’s chairman while Stephen Paduano was the national commander. At the time of the merger, however, de la Cruz and Tabara fell into some differences over the group’s party-list nomination and alleged mishandling of funds. This caused the groups of Paduano and Tabara to decide to abandon the armed struggle on Dec. 6, 2000.

Then in a special plenum in April 2007, de la Cruz expelled Paduano and Veronica, wife of slain Arturo Tabara, from the RPA-ABB. Both factions insisted they are the legitimate RPA-ABB. (FREEMAN)