Communist exec, companion killed in Bicol firefight

NAGA CITY–An alleged chief of the communist party in Bicol and his companion were killed in an alleged shoot-out with the police in a subdivision in this city Thursday night.

Joey Fajardo, said to be the alleged secretary of the Bicol Regional Party Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines, was killed with a still unidentified woman in a firefight in a house in Barangay (village) Cararayan here at 9:25 p.m., Naga City police spokesperson Senior Police Officer 2 Tobias Bongon said.

Combined police personnel from the regional command and members of the Army’s 9th Infantry Division tried to serve the warrant of arrest against Fajardo, when the suspects drew their guns, prompting the officers to return fire and kill Fajardo and his female companion, Bongon said.

The warrant of arrest, dated Jan. 21, 2013 issued by Regional Trial Court Branch 24, pertains to a murder charge against Fajardo with criminal case number 2012-0020, Bongon said.

He said the police team recovered a .45 caliber pistol and carbine rifle from the house where Fajardo and companion were killed.

Bongon said the bodies of the suspected NPA members were brought to Cristo Funeral Parlor in Naga City for identification and retrieval of relatives. /lb