NPA admits killing sugar planter in Negros Occidental

BACOLOD CITY — The New People’s Army (NPA) has owned up to killing a sugar planter in Calatrava town, Negros Occidental last week.

In a statement, Cecil Estrella, spokesperson of the NPA’s Roselyn Pelle Command Northern Negros Guerilla Front, said the death penalty was imposed on Roberto “Bebe” Lumayno on June 22 after he was found guilty by “revolutionary court” of land grabbing and of hiring goons to intimidate farmers.

“The NPA is also calling on all those who have cases for threatening residents and killings to surrender to the revolutionary movement so they can be given the opportunity to change,” Estrella added.

Lumayno, 67, was on board his pickup truck to inspect his farm at around 6 a.m. on June 22 when ambushed by a band of NPA rebels hiding in a sugarcane field at Purok Greenhills, Barangay Minapasok, Calatrava.

Also killed was Lumayno’s driver, Danilo Braga, 45.

Senior Supt. Rodolfo Castil Jr., acting director of the Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office, said the NPA did not have right to take the life of two people.

“There is a proper justice system that must be followed to seek redress,” he said.

He said the police would take action to ensure justice could be attained by the family of the two killed. /atm