Soldier killed, 2 others wounded in Davao City attack

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / October 26, 2009) – Suspected communist insurgents killed a government soldier and wounded two civilians in a broad daylight attack in the southern Filipino city of Davao, security officials said Monday.

Officials said two young gunmen attacked Corporal Orly Pedregoza while talking to friends in the remote village of Malabog in Paquibato District. The weekend attack also wounded a motorcycle taxi driver and a farmer, said Captain Emmanuel Garcia, a spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.

The motive of the attack was unknown, but Garcia blamed the New People’s Army rebels for the killing.

“Corporal Orly Pedregoza, a resident of Paquibato and assigned with the 10th Infantry Division, died on the spot due to multiple gunshot wounds on his head. He was practically defenceless as he was attending a religious festivity of Filipinista of the Philippine Independent Church, a local Christian religious sect, when simultaneously attacked by at least two youthful gunmen while talking to some friends and acquaintances,” Garcia said.

Major General Reynaldo Mapagu, the army division commander, also condemned the rebel attack, saying, the killing shows the true nature of the NPA. “We condemn the killing perpetrated by this atrocious group and pray that the wheel of justice grind in the interest of truth and of the people. We commiserate with the families of the many victims of these terrorists as we appeal for sobriety in the pursuit of legal remedies so that the perpetrators of these heinous crimes could be brought before the bar of justice and ultimately serve the punishment due them,” the general said.

Mapagu said the attack was a total disregard to the safety of civilians and contempt to a peaceful gathering in the community.

He said rebels last week also killed a 71-year old tribal leader, Datu Intoy Baguio and his 72-year old brother Pablo Ebero, and Silvano delas Alas, a 50-year old farmer in Boston town in the nearby province of Davao Oriental for a still unknown reason.

The NPA has been waging a secessionist war the past four decades and had broken off peace talks with Manila in 2004 after accusing government negotiators of reneging on several agreements, among them the release of all political prisoners. (Mindanao Examiner)