Update
BACOLOD CITY – Eleven suspected members of the New People’s Army were charged after they were arrested in Barangay Sebucawan, Isabela town, Negros Occidental for the murder on Sunday of Moises Padilla town councilor Jolomar Hilario.
Police Captain Junji Liba, Moises Padilla police chief, said the suspects were brought to the Negros Occidental Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday afternoon.
Two of the 11 persons included in the charge sheet were minors and were released into the custody of their parents.
Liba said the 11 suspected rebels were intercepted by the Second Provincial Mobile Force Company troops, who had served as the blocking force of the 62nd Infantry Battalion soldiers.
Moises Padilla police investigation showed that the 11 persons claimed to be cane cutters but no cane cutting tools were recovered from the suspects.
But the deputy spokesperson of the Leonardo Panaligan Command, who claimed to be behind the killing of Hilario, maintained that the 11 individuals arrested by the police, were not members of the NPA but farm workers.
Ka Ann Jacinto told MBC Aksyon Radyo that Hilario had already been warned prior to his death for being a military asset and for his association with Moises Padilla Mayor Magdaleno Peña.
Liba added that Misel Hilario, wife of the slain councilor, identified four of the suspects as the same persons who entered their compound on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office sent additional police personnel to augment the Moises Padilla Police Station in response to the alleged series of violent activities perpetrated by the NPA in the town’s hinterland barangays.
The Provincial Joint Security Control Center (PJSCC) has recommended placing Moises Padilla under “Category Red” or an election area of grave concern, and five other areas in Negros Occidental under “Category Orange” or areas of immediate concern, said Acting Provincial Election Supervisor Salud Milagros Villanueva.
The PJSCC, composed of the Comelec, Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Police, made the recommendation to the Western Visayas Regional Joint Security Control Center that will convene on Friday, she said.
Moises Padilla was recommended to be placed under Category Red because of intense political rivalry, and the presence of armed groups, Villanueva said.
She cited the NPA presence in the town where killings, the latest of which was of Hilario, have occurred./lzb