EXHUMED. Government troops and villagers unearth a body of a village official killed by rebels last year. Troops recovered on Wednesday (May 3, 2023) the cadaver of Jaime Asinas, a village council member of San Jose, Las Navas, Northern Samar who went missing on July 19, 2022. (Photo courtesy of Philippine Army)
TACLOBAN CITY – Soldiers unearthed the body of a village official reportedly killed by the New People’s Army (NPA) in July 2022 on the outskirts of Las Navas, Northern Samar.
The Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Battalion said troops recovered on Wednesday the cadaver of Jaime Asinas, a village council member of San Jose, Las Navas, Northern Samar who went missing on July 19, 2022.
With the information given by former rebel Alfredo Cocoya, the troops of the 3rd Infantry Battalion and 2nd Northern Samar Provincial Mobile Force Company located the shallow grave of Asinas in Epaw village of the same town.
“The cadaver was positively identified by his family and relatives for it matches the dress and boots that he wore when he was last seen before the abduction,” the Philippine Army said in a statement on Thursday.
Asinas, according to his family, was abducted when he refused to use barangay funds to support the communist group.
Citing accounts from a witness, Asinas was brutally killed allegedly by rebels.
Armed men forced him to dig his own grave using a piece of wood. After the digging, the NPA tied him up and was interrogated but the village official remained silent.
NPA fighters shot him in the head using an M16 riffle. He was also stabbed multiple times before he was buried. (PNA)
