ARRESTED 'AGAIN'. A suspected member of the CPP-NPA was "arrested" the second time around for a murder case in Vallehermoso, Negros Oriental. The suspect was first arrested early this year and is incarcerated at the Guihulngan City District Jail when another warrant of arrest against him was served on Wednesday (June 29, 2022). (Photo courtesy of the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office)
DUMAGUETE CITY – A suspected Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) rebel detained in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental was placed under arrest for the second time for yet another murder case.
A report from the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office (NOPPO) on Thursday said suspect Rustom Fat, a resident of Barangay Trinidad, Guihulngan City was served another warrant of arrest on Wednesday afternoon in relation to the deaths of the son and husband of a barangay captain in the adjacent town of Vallehermoso.
Lt. Col. Ruben Verbo Jr., head of the Police Community Affairs and Development Unit (PCADU) and public information office of NOPPO said Fat is among the suspected NPA members who allegedly shot and killed the husband and son of Barangay Malangsa chief Beatriz Perater.
The suspects barged into Perater's home and shot her husband Lucio, and their son, in front of the barangay official last February 16.
“He was a person of interest in that incident. The statements of some witnesses pinpointed his involvement in the said crime,” Verbo said in mixed English and Cebuano.
The latest warrant of arrest against Fat was issued by acting Presiding Judge Anthony Dumpilo of the Regional Trial Court Branch 64 in Guihulngan City. No bail was recommended for his temporary liberty.
He will continue to be incarcerated at the Guihulngan District Jail, Verbo said.
The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
The National Democratic Front has been formally designated as a terrorist organization by the Anti-Terrorism Council on June 23, 2021, citing it as “an integral and inseparable part” of the CPP-NPA created in April 1973. (PNA)
