Ex-NPA rebel slain in Samar

TACLOBAN CITY –– A former member of the New People’s Army (NPA), who earlier surrendered to authorities, was killed by unidentified assailants in Matuguinao town, Samar on Monday, Sept. 28.

Carlos Diaz, 50, suffered multiple gunshot wounds on the body.

The investigation showed that Diaz was tending his farm in Barangay Nagpapacao around 7:30 a.m. when the assailants shot him.

Diaz was the fifth former rebel in Eastern Visayas who was allegedly killed by the NPA.

Lt. Col. Jasper Justito Pecson, the commanding officer of the 19th Infantry Battalion, said Diaz surrendered to authorities in August 2018.

“The New People’s Army is doing atrocities to instill fear among their former members and supporters and even kill people in the communities who contradict their propaganda,” he said in a statement.

Major Gen. Pio Dinoso III, the commanding officer of the 8th Infantry Division based in Catbalogan City, Samar, condemned the killing of Diaz.

“We will make the communist NPA terrorists (CNTs) and their supporters accountable for the actions of their members who deprived their former NPA members to live peacefully with their loved ones,” he said in a statement. /###

ZB