Abducted daughter of NPA leader brutally killed in Southern Philippines

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 6, 2009) – An abducted daughter of a senior Maoist rebel leader was found brutally murdered in the southern Philippines, where security forces are battling insurgents fighting for a communist state in the restive region.

Rebelyn Pitao was abducted by gunmen on board a van on March 4 in Davao City. The next day, her body was found in a creek in the town of Carmen in Davao del Sur province.

Reports said the body of the 21-year old woman, a teacher by profession, was wearing nothing, but underwear. Her hands were tied and mouth was bound with a packaging tape – she had stabbed wounds in her chest and was believed tortured and raped by her abductors.

The young woman is the daughter of Leoncio Pitao, who is also known as Kumander Parago, leader of a New People’s Army command responsible for the series of attacks on government forces in Mindanao.

Pitao’s family blamed the military for the killing. Military spokesmen in Davao City also ignored phone calls from journalists.

The Promotion of Church People’s Response also blamed the government’s counter-insurgency campaign for Pitao’s murder.

“The Arroyo government’s counter-insurgency plan and policy of state violence against its perceived enemies has taken its most cruel head in the killing of an innocent daughter and civilian. We are aghast with how state elements can go such lengths in its bid to capture its hated enemy, in the person of Ka Parago, and to eventually weaken the revolutionary organization of the New People’s Army,” it said in a statement.

There was no immediate statement from either the NPA or Pitao about the brutal murder of his daughter. Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte vowed to seek justice for the killing of the woman.

Government forces are battling NPA rebels in Mindanao the past decades. The NPA is fighting for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country and the killing of Pitao's daughter coincided with the government announcement that it would resume collapsed peace talks with rebels. (Mindanao Examiner)