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NPA terror haunts north Samar community

By Sarwell Meniano

April 26, 2019, 5:25 pm

<p><strong>VICTIMS OF ATTACK.</strong> Jerome Capoquian receives first aid treatment from the military after alleged members of the New People's Army attacked them on Thursday (April 25, 2019). His father-in-law Apolinario Lebico, the village chief of San Miguel, Las Navas, Northern Samar died on the spot.<em> (Photo by Philippine Army 20th Infantry Batallion)</em></p>

VICTIMS OF ATTACK. Jerome Capoquian receives first aid treatment from the military after alleged members of the New People's Army attacked them on Thursday (April 25, 2019). His father-in-law Apolinario Lebico, the village chief of San Miguel, Las Navas, Northern Samar died on the spot. (Photo by Philippine Army 20th Infantry Batallion)

TACLOBAN CITY -- A week after losing a 10-year-old boy to a blast perpetrated by communist rebels, the remote village of San Miguel in Las Navas, Northern Samar remains grieving after its village chief was gunned down by alleged members of the New People’s Army (NPA) on Thursday. 

 A group of communist terrorists ambushed village chief, Apolinario Lebico, and his son-in-law, Jerome Capoquian, as they were heading back to Quezon village on board a motorcycle from the town center at around 4 p.m.

Capoquian, driver of the motorcycle, sustained injuries.

Lebico died on the spot from multiple gunshot wounds, according to reports from the Philippine Army’s 20th Infantry Battalion (IB) based in Las Navas town.

“He was known to be working hand and hand with our soldiers deployed in the area. He was passionate to deliver the basic services for his constituents. The NPA is so desperate and has done nothing but kill and destroy people's hope,” the 20th IB said in a statement. “We condemn (in) the strongest terms this atrocity perpetrated by the communist terrorist.”

 San Miguel village, which is about 15 km. away from the town center, can be reached by motorcycle through a bumpy and muddy road.

The attack took place a day after the burial of Armando Raymunde, the 10-year-old boy killed when rebels detonated a landmine near a temporary patrol base of the 20th IB in San Miguel village at about noon of April 17 with the intention to kill soldiers.

Culture of fear

On the day of the boy’s burial, about 150 people from the religious sector, academe, and youth leaders joined a rally in Las Navas, condemning the atrocities committed by the communist terrorists.

The boy was buried in their farm a few kilometers from their residence. About a hundred, mostly children who were Armando’s schoolmates, joined the funeral procession, said the boy’s sister, Girlie Jane Raymunde.

“My brother’s death, followed by an attack of our village chief, has created a culture of fear in our community. Ever since, we never wanted to see NPAs. They have spoiled our peaceful village,” Raymunde said in a mobile phone interview.

The attack on the child has sparked outrage from the boy’s family, villagers, and netizens who tagged the NPA as heartless and labeled their 50-year armed struggle as senseless.

The boy was killed two days after two soldiers were slain by rebels while inspecting an ongoing road project in San Antonio and Catotogan villages, also in Las Navas, a fourth-class town in Northern Samar province.

The military also condemned the NPA for using anti-personnel mines in their attacks, which shows disrespect for basic human rights for their disregard for the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.

 Another village chief slain

Meanwhile, the village chief of Beri, Calbiga, Samar, Wilmar Calutan, was gunned down by a group of bonnet-clad men during the fiesta celebration at his residence Thursday night, the Philippine National Police said in its initial report released Friday.

The remote village of Beri was the location of a fierce gun battle early Tuesday that killed six government troops and wounded six others.

The Philippine Army said an undetermined number of NPA members detonated anti-personnel mines at about 2:45 a.m. on Tuesday when they spotted patrolling soldiers in the upland village of Beri, some 12 km. from the Calbiga town center.

After the blast, soldiers of the 46th Infantry Battalion based in Calbiga, engaged the terror group in hours of gun battle that lasted until Tuesday morning.

The NPA, which has been engaged in a five-decade armed struggle, is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines. (PNA)

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