Butuan City activates crisis committee after death of mayor, son

THE Butuan City government has activated its crisis committee to look into the killing of Loreto Mayor Dario Otaza and his son, Daryl, Malacañang said Tuesday.

Undersecretary Emmanuel Bautista of the Cabinet Cluster on Security, Justice and Peace said the local government will also hold a press conference.

“The Philippine National Police, supported by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, is intensifying operations to apprehend the perpetrators of this crime,” he said.

Bautista earlier announced that the remains of Otaza and his son were found in Purok 2, Barangay Bitan-agan, Butuan City.

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They were found hogtied and their bodies bore multiple gunshot wounds.

Bautista said Otaza, a member of the Manobo indigenous group, was a “partner of peace.” He was a former member of the New People’s Army (NPA) who has been working to ensure that rebel returnees find livelihood upon surrendering.

“We strongly condemn the murder of Mayor Dario Otaza and Daryl Otaza, as we condemn all the attacks on the Lumad peoples,” said Bautista, who is a former AFP chief.

“We grieve with his family, the people of Loreto, the Manobos and other indigenous peoples, and the entire Filipino public. Rest assured that our law enforcement personnel will exert every effort to bring the perpetrators of this grisly, cowardly crime to justice,” he added.

An Inquirer report said Otaza has been warned for supposedly harassing lumads and that the NPA has threatened him with “punitive actions.”

Otaza was also active in anti-communist programs of the government.