GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- A former unit leader of the New People's Army (NPA) and his younger brother were killed while another sibling was wounded in an ambush by suspected rebels on Sunday in Alabel town, Sarangani province.
Chief Insp. Rey Salgado, chief of the Alabel municipal police station, said Monday brothers Rodel, Welmar and Adonis Niepes were on their way home aboard a motorcycle around 12:30 p.m. when they were waylaid by alleged NPA members in Barangay Paraiso.
Salgado said Rodel and Welmar, who was a Grade 11 senior high school student, suffered multiple gunshot wounds and were declared dead upon arrival at a local hospital.
Adonis was wounded in the attack and is currently undergoing treatment.
Citing accounts from witnesses, the police official said at least 10 heavily-armed men opened fire at the victims as they were traversing a road in Sitio Nayong, Barangay Paraiso.
"According to reports, the armed men were alleged members of the NPA," he said.
Police officers of the Alabel municipal police station and the Army's 73rd Infantry Battalion found assorted cartridges of high-powered firearms at the scene.
A relative of the victims', whose identity was being withheld, said in a radio interview that the three came from their coconut farm when attacked.
Sources said Rodel, also known as "Kumander Dong," was a former unit leader of the NPA's Front 71, which operates in Sarangani and Davao Occidental provinces.
Rodel and brother Adonis surrendered voluntarily last year and availed of the government's reintegration program. (PNA)
