NPA owns up to slay of agent

NAGA CITY, Philippines—The communist New People’s Army (NPA) has claimed responsibility for the killing of an agent of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Sorsogon City on Saturday.

Ka Samuel Guerrero, spokesperson of the NPA’s Celso Minquez Command in Sorsogon, said in an online statement on Monday that the agent, Arnel Estrellado, was killed on charges of protecting drug pushers in the Bicol region.

Estrellado, 39, misused his influence with the PDEA, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the Philippine National Police to shield drug pushers and syndicates from lawmen for a commission, Guerrero said.

The agent was shot five times in different parts of the body by two men riding on a motorcycle outside the canteen he operated in Barangay (village) Tugos. He died shortly after he was brought to a hospital, said Supt. Aarne Oliquino, police chief of Sorsogon City.

Estrellado had served as assistant provincial officer of PDEA-Sorsogon and conducted community campaigns against drug use among the youth and students in Sorsogon, according to Cotton Yuson, regional spokesperson of the PDEA. He was transferred to Camarines Norte province on March 1.

He was off duty and was in his home in Sorsogon City when he was killed, Yuson said. Shiena M. Barrameda, Inquirer Southern Luzon