Mayor Dario Otaza of Loreto, Agusan del Sur poses for an interview with reporters in December last year saying his town has managed to drive away communist insurgents New People’s Army and dissuaded residents from joining the group. He was a former NPA rebel himself who returned to the folds of the law and managed to enter politics. He and his 27-year-old son were slain last Tuesday. DENNIS JAY SANTOS/INQUIRER MINDANAO
The death of Mayor Dario Otaza, leader of Loreto town in Agusan del Sur, will be a big blow to the campaign against New People’s Army rebels, according to Philippine National Police Director General Ricardo Marquez.
The PNP chief believes that Otaza has been a “valuable partner of the community” in leading the campaign against insurgents and terrorists.
“Mayor Otaza is a former rebel. He was very consistent in his counterinsurgency activities and so we’re sad that a leader will pass away just like that,” Marquez told reporters in Camp Crame.
The town mayor and his son Daryl, 27, were found dead early Tuesday morning in Barangay (village) Bitan-agan by members of the Army’s 23rd Infantry Division.
Their bodies were discovered by soldiers hours after they were abducted from their Butuan City home on Monday night.
READ: Anticommunist Agusan mayor, son murdered after abduction
When asked if the police were suspecting NPA rebels to be behind the killing, Marquez said: “That is our first impression.”
“But as I always say, we will conclude the investigation but from the looks of it, that seems to be the finding,” he said.
The abductors of the Otazas allegedly pretended to be National Bureau of Investigation agents, a tactic associated with the New People’s Army rebels.
A former NPA member, Otaza surrendered to the government in 1986 and eventually entered politics.
As a young officer, Marquez recalled that he had encountered communist rebels and found that they did not fear death.
“Gano’n katitibay ang mga paninindigan ng mga taong ‘yon. ‘Yong kamatayan hindi nila iniinda (That’s how strong their conviction is. They don’t mind death),” he said. Julliane Love de Jesus/RC
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