NPA rebels execute ex-soldier in front of wife, kids

KIDAPAWAN CITY — A retired soldier was executed by members of the New People’s Army in front of his horrified wife and children in an upland village in Magpet, North Cotabato Sunday, police said on Monday.

Supt. Bernard Tayong, speaking for police in North Cotabto, said Dominaro Favian, 48, a resident of Barangay Binay, Magpet, died of multiple gunshot wounds in the head and body.

Quoting Chief Insp. Jose Molina, chief of the Magpet Municipal Police Station, Tayong said the victim was fast asleep with his family at 1 a.m. when about 15 NPA rebels arrived and barged inside their house.

Police said the gunmen were after Favian who they suspected of keeping firearms at home.

In a radio interview, Molina quoted the victim’s wife as saying that the rebels ordered her and her two children, aged 10 and 12, to lie face down.

The wife said the gunmen found no firearms and left hurriedly.

Police said the attack on Favian came after three communist rebels were killed in a clash with government forces also in Barangay Binay, a rebel-infested village of Magpet.

On Friday, soldiers from the 19th Infantry Battalion killed three NPA rebels in a clash in Barangay Panaca, an village adjacent to Binay.

The slain rebels were identified Jonelle Entero, 27, and his brother Joel Entero, 17, and Roland Tulay, 22 – all residents of Tugbok district in Davao City. /atm