DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 08, 2008) – The communist New People’s Army rebels on Thursday admitted to killing a village leader accused of leading anti-insurgency campaign and human rights violations in the southern Philippines.
Paterno Intes was killed after rebels raided his house in the village of Kapatagan in the outskirts of Digos City. Rebels also seized a cache of weapons from Intes’ house that included seven shotguns, a grenade launcher, an automatic rifle and fragmentation grenades and munitions.
Ricardo Fermiza, a rebel spokesman, said Intes was a notorious paramilitary leader working for the Army’s 39th Infantry Battalion.
“His liquidation should serve as a further warning to others who perform aggressive and armed counter-revolutionary activities,” Fermiza, of the NPA’s Magtanggol Roque Command, said.
Fermiza said the rebels had long warned Intes to stop his anti-NPA and anti-people activities, but he ignored the NPA. “Intes belonged to the 39th Infantry Battalion’s paramilitary and intelligence network in the hinterlands of Davao del Sur. He also maintained high powered weapons and used them in hostile actions against the NPA,” he said.
The army battalion was also accused of beating up civilians in North Cotabato province after an NPA ambush that left three soldiers dead. The army insisted the civilians knew of the ambush, but did not warn the military about it.
NPA rebels attacked early Monday a convoy of the 39th Infantry Battalion and killing three soldiers and wounding as many as 13 others. Civilians claimed soldiers returned on Tuesday and rounded up dozens of villagers and beat them up.
The rebels, military wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front, broke away in 2004 from peace talks with the Arroyo government after the United States and the European Union included the rebel groups in the list of foreign terrorist organizations on Manila's prodding. (Mindanao Examiner)
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