BY MAI LADIAO
ILOILO – In an unexpected turn of events, a member of the New People’s Army (NPA) was reportedly killed by his fellow rebel in the town of Calinog, Iloilo.
Government troops recently carried out the exhumation of the remains of a 28-year-old identified as Ruben Diaz in Sitio Nolwan in Barangay Siya, Tapaz, Capiz.
Diaz, a resident of Sitio Cumbong, Barangay Masaroy in Calinog, Iloilo, is said to have been a member of the Igabon platoon under the Central Front of the Komiteng Rehiyon Panay, operating in Calinog and Tapaz.
According to Lieutenant Colonel J-Jay Javines, chief of the Division Public Affairs Office of the 3rd Infantry Division of the Philippine Army, Diaz’s father positively identified the body based on various personal belongings found at the scene.
According to the father, Diaz had been allegedly recruited by the communist terrorist group at the young age of 15 and had since become a full-fledged member of the NPA.
The family believes that internal conflicts within the rebel group and suspicions of him being a military asset by his comrades may have led to his demise.
An in-depth investigation into Diaz’s death is ongoing./PN
