BACOLOD City – The Leonardo Panaligan Command of the New People’s Army (NPA) denied killing Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental councilor Paulo Edison Dela Rita.
NPA spokesman Ka JB Regalado said the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office and the 3rd Infantry Division of the Philippine Army must conduct a “deeper investigation” into the shooting that happened around 7:30 a.m. on Monday.
The 60-year-old Dela Rita was driving a motorcycle when two unidentified men fired at him in Sitio Looc, Barangay Poblacion, Guihulngan City.
Dela Rita sustained multiple gunshot wounds.
According to Regalado, NPA’s Revolutionary People’s Court held in abeyance the death penalty it issued against Dela Rita for his “sins against the masses.”
Dela Rita made an appeal to the NPA after surviving an ambush in July last year, said Regalado. His bodyguard, Russel Vallespin, died in the ambush.
The chief of Guihulngan City police station and five of his men who responded to the shooting were also killed.
Regalado said they were able to arrest Dela Rita after that. That was when the latter “vowed to change his ways.”
The NPA spokesman stressed that the Army and the police must probe the group Kawsang Guihulnganon Batok Druga kag Komunista (Kagubak) in relation to Dela Rita’s death.
Regalado claimed Dela Rita was in Kagubak’s list of individuals “targeted” for their affiliation with the rebel movement.
He added that Kagubak members believed Dela Rita lured officers of the Guihulngan City police station into the July 2017 shooting.
Regalado also slammed the current Guihulngan City police station head Superintendent Bonifacio Tecson for turning a blind eye to the illegal activities of some of his personnel, like killing innocent civilians.
Tecsonhas earlier said either the NPA or Dela Rita’s political enemies were responsible for Monday’s shooting./PN
