• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The killing spree of the New People’s Army continues, as it again claimed responsibility for the killing of another civilian they tagged as a military informant on January 30 in Sitio Subo, Brgy. Macagahay, Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental.
In a statement, Ka JB Regalado, spokesman of the NPA Leonardo Panaligan Command, said that Divine Anubong was meted with the death penalty, for his counter revolutionary activities.
Anubong is the sixth victim of rebel atrocities in Negros Island, since the start of the year.
Initial investigations of the Moises Padilla Police Station said that barangay tanod Christopher Ruales invited the victim to a dialogue with one of the six unidentified suspects.
Expecting that it was a business transaction, Anubong and one of the suspects went to a banana grove, about 50 meters from his residence.
Michael Anubong told the Moises Padilla police that his brother was shot several times by the suspects, who later fled towards the hinterland areas of the barangay.
The victim, who succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds, died on the spot, according to the police.
Regalado alleged that Divine reported frequently to an Army detachment in Brgy. Montilla, Moises Padilla, being a military intelligence asset.
Prior to the imposition of death penalty, he added that Divine had been warned several times, from 2010 until 2021, regarding his counter revolutionary activities, which he continuously ignored.
Lt. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, commander of the AFP Visayas Command, ordered the Philippine Army, to address the spate of killings claimed by the NPA in Negros Island.*
