Google map of Magpet town, North Cotabato.
KIDAPAWAN CITY – A former communist rebel who shot dead his Army escort while under custody in the North Cotabato town of Magpet has committed suicide inside the police custodial facility Thursday, police said.
Captain Rolando Dillera Jr, Magpet town police chief, said police on duty found Noel Delgado dead at about 5:45 a.m.
Dillera said Delgado committed suicide by hanging using his “malong” (wrap-around cloth) inside the Magpet police lock-up cell.
“There was no foul play,” Dillera assured the public in a radio interview.
A resident of Antipas, North Cotabato, Delgado was a 19-year-old member of NPA Guerilla Front 53 operating in Magpet who surrendered to 72nd Infantry Battalion last month.
While under Army custody, he was sent to study at a training center managed by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
While coming in and out of the 7th IB headquarters, two soldiers served as his escorts.
But on Nov. 10, Delgado grabbed the firearm of one of his escorts, Private Randy Castor of the 72nd IB, and shot him dead. The other soldier was injured.
Delgado escaped but on Tuesday, Nov. 19, he surrendered voluntarily to chairperson Edgar Hantoc of Barangay Balite, Magpet.
He also turned in the two .45 caliber pistols of his soldier-escorts. Subsequently, Hantoc turned him over to the Magpet police office.
Dillera said the police on duty reported that he saw Delgado still in his bed asleep at about 4 a.m.
After checking the cell almost an hour later, the police officer on duty found him hanging, lifeless. (PNA)
