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MANILA, Philippines — An official of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) took notice of the guns seized from three supposed members of a New People’s Army (NPA) hit squad slain in Laguna, saying it is not typical for hit squad members to carry long firearms.
CPP chief information officer Marco Valbuena said on Friday that NPA’s urban units usually use short firearms like handguns and pistols, unlike the M-16 rifle recovered after a composite team from the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) encountered the alleged rebels.
Earlier, PNP said that the three-man hit squad, believed to be deployed by NPA to assassinate National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokespersons, were slain as authorities were serving arrest orders in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
“Wala pa bang body cam ang pulis? 1:45 am, magdadala ang pulis ng “arrest warrant”? Kaduda-duda na sila pa ang mauunahan ng putok. Typically, short firearms gamit ng NPA urban unit, bakit M16 ang narecover?” Valbuena said in a tweet.
https://twitter.com/marco_cpp/status/1395728985854726150
According to the reports submitted to PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, two .45 caliber pistols with magazines were also recovered from the three-man unit.
Government reports said that the composite team was set to deliver arrest orders for a certain Rommel Rizza alias Bernie/ Jomar, an alias Blue/Billy, and an alias Dean, when the three opened fire.
Police said that Rizza is supposedly the commanding officer of the Regional Special Operations Group (RSOG) and Special Partisan Unit (SPARU) of the Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee; along with two other SPARU officials identified as Blue/Billy, and an alias Dean.
The SPARU unit is the NPA’s elite assassination squad said to be operating in urban areas.
Rizza is said to be facing complaints and arrest orders for murder and kidnapping charges, based on warrants issued by Mauban, Quezon Regional Trial Court Branch 64 Presiding Judge Rodolfo Obnamia, Jr.
“The three suspects died on the spot. SOCO examiners recovered the slain CPP-NPA terrorists’ weapons consisting of a 5.56mm Elisco M-16 rifle, and two cal.45 pistols with magazine assemblies loaded with live ammunition,” PNP said.
READ: State agents kill three-man NPA hit squad in Laguna encounter
Valbuena claimed that the incident may be another case of police officers doing extrajudicial killings — even if the PNP has constantly maintained that their operations are lawful and regular.
“We’re still awaiting details regarding police ‘shootout’ in Sta. Rosa, Laguna today where supposedly 3 ‘NPA hit squad’ members were killed. Based on initial reports, it seems to be another case of EJK carried out under pretext of serving ‘arrest warrants’ at 1:40 a.m,” he said.