MANILA, Philippines?An assassin assigned to kill retired Army Brig. Gen. Jovito Palparan was among the 43 suspected communist rebels rounded up in a raid on a farmhouse in Morong, Rizal, over the weekend, the military claimed Monday.
Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson, said Alexis Montes, was a member of the ?special operations group? of the communist-led New People?s Army formed to kill Palparan.
Palparan has been branded a ?butcher? by leftist militants who claimed that numerous political killings were committed during his term as commander of the Army?s 204th Infantry Brigade in Mindoro in 2001. Palparan is the nominee of the party-list group Bantay which is running in the May elections.
Families and colleague claimed those detained were health workers and accused the police and military of framing the suspects.
Speaking with reporters in Camp Aguinaldo, Brawner said Montes was attending a training on manufacturing improvised bombs in the farmhouse owned by Dr. Melecia Velmonte when he and the other suspect were arrested.
No information though
Asked if Montes was in the area to carry out the purported plot to kill Palparan, Brawner said, ?We don?t have any information about it.?
Denying that the raid violated the rights of those arrested, Brawner said the operation conducted by the local police and the Army?s 202nd Infantry Brigade was covered by a court-issued warrant.
He insisted that all the arrested were NPA members, including some wanted under arrest warrants for illegal possession of firearms, murder, kidnapping and other criminal offenses.
In fact, he said, former NPA hostage Insp. Rex Cuntapay was able to identify among them arrested Kristine Galido and Aileen Monasterio as members of the rebel unit that held him hostage for several months in Rodriguez, Rizal, last year after an ambush.
Brawner said six of those arrested?Janes Trinidad, Lilibeth Nonesco, Ciar Cruz, Joy Manguba, Cristine Anne Evangelista and Janna Mendoza?were NPA rebels operating on Mindoro island.
Raid on police station
Two others?Jenalyn Pisaro and Dario Ibarientos?were NPA political officers who took part in the raid on a police station in San Narciso, Quezon, in December 2009, he added.
Brawner said three others?Yolanda Macaraig, Franco Romeroso and Janice Javier?were among nine farmer-activists arrested in Silang, Cavite, in August 2008 for illegal possession of firearms.
?Some of those arrested already admitted that they were regular members of the NPA and that they were willing to be government witnesses,? Brawner said.
Brawner said he welcomed the plan of the relatives of those arrested to file administrative and criminal charges against the soldiers and policemen who took part in the raid.
