Gold miner tagged in Atimonan massacre killed in Camarines Norte

LEGAZPI CITY, Albay — A gold miner, who was earlier named as the police tipster who got dragged in the 2013 Atimonan, Quezon massacre, was shot dead by suspected New People’s Army rebels in Camarines Norte Monday morning, police said.

Senior Supt. Harris Fama, Camarines Norte police chief, said around 10 unidentified gunmen with long firearms and clad in Army uniforms forcibly entered Ronnie Habitan’s house in Barangay Plaridel, Jose Panganiban municipality, around 9:10 a.m.

Habitan had provided information that became the basis for a police operation that led to the massacre of 13 people at a police-military checkpoint in Atimonan, Quezon, on Jan. 6, 2013,

Habitan’s worker Junny dela Cruz, 41, went to the police station Monday morning to report that armed men had taken hostage of Habitan at his house.

Four responding policemen led by Chief Insp. Martin Ngadao Jr., the Jose Panganiban municipal police chief, proceeded to Habitan’s residence but they were flagged down by the gunmen, said Fama.

The gunmen disarmed the policemen and took four guns before shooting Habitan in the head.

Fama said Habitan was brought to the Primary Hospital in the same town but was declared dead on arrival by the attending physician.

Lieutenant Colonel Medel Aguilar, commander of the 49th Infantry Battalion, said unidentified men also planted several improvised explosive devices on the street leading away from Habitan’s house as they were escaping to slow down government forces pursuing them.

Combined forces from the Army and Jose Panganiban police conducted pursuit operations against the gunmen.

Habitan was named by Supt. Hansel Marantan, leader of the police team in the Atimonan operation, as the one who informed him of the visit of alleged illegal gambling lord Victor Siman and his group in Jose Panganiban town, hours before the massacre in Atimonan.

Habitan denied he was Marantan’s tipster and said he could not have offered to help a police officer who once extorted money from him. The gold miner also denied having differences with Siman, his business partner whom he said was good to him.