• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The New People’s Army issued a statement claiming responsibility for the death of a former comrade that they alleged as an intelligence asset of the Philippine Army, in Calatrava, Negros Occidental, on Tuesday.
The victim, identified as Leonardo Nepalar, 63, alias Tolendoy, succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds after being shot and killed by four armed rebels at Spur 2 in Barangay Minapasok, Calatrava.
He was declared dead on arrival at the Calatrava Municipal Hospital, according to the police.
Six fired cartridges and a deformed slug of a .45 caliber firearm were recovered by the police at the scene of the incident.
In a statement on Thursday, the Roselyn Jean Pelle Command claimed that Nepalar was killed because he was an intelligence operative of the 79th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army, a gun-for-hire, and a drug pusher.
1Lt. Dan Samoza, 79IB Civil Military Military Operations officer, dismissed the claims against Tolento as a diversionary and dilapidated tactic, to justify the killing of an innocent civilian.
That has been an old, dilapidated tactic of the rebels to cover their tracks, Samoza said.
Calatrava Mayor Marilyn Era, who strongly condemned the senseless attack against Nepalar, denied accusations that the victim was among her alleged “goons.”
”That accusation is a complete lie and has no basis,” Era stressed.
Era, however, admitted that Nepalar was a Job Order (JO) personnel under the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (MDRRM) Program, stressing also that he had been assigned to upland areas even before she became mayor, who also continued his service under her term.
“As your mayor, I want to make it clear: I do not have the financial capacity to keep or maintain goons, nor do I need to. Since I began serving Calatrava in 2007, the people know I have never operated that way,” Era said.
“I am now 73 years old and a grandmother. Why would I need goons? I only have the proper security escorts as mandated by law,” she added.*
