NPA owns up to slay try on ex-Samar town mayor last Nov 18

TACLOBAN CITY – The communist insurgents have owned up the attempt to kill a former mayor in Samar province who was running for an elective post in next year’s elections.

The Arnulfo Ortiz Command of the New People’s Army, which operates in Samar province, claimed their special operations group merely carried out the decision of the people’s court to impose the death penalty on Aran Boller, ex-mayor of Matuguinao.

According to a statement, Boller was responsible for the alleged “series of unsolved killings and other acts of reactionary violence” in the town.

“Boller was found guilty as the criminal mastermind behind the series of unsolved killings and other acts of reactionary violence in the town,” said the Arnulfo Ortiz Command in a statement.

Boller, who is gunning for a political comeback in the 2019 elections, was ambushed in Catbalogan City, Samar last November 18. He escaped death with a bullet wound in the right hand.

However, Boller, 42, who is running for mayor of Matuguinao, said he didn’t believe the ambush was perpetrated by the communist group.

“I doubt if that pronouncement really came from them. The town of Matuguinao is very peaceful and if there were killings there as they claimed, these could have been undertaken by some groups who had their own ideology and not mine as they alleged,” he said.

He maintained that the attempt on his life was carried out by his political enemies and not by the NPA.

The statement of the Arnulfo Ortiz Command was posted on Facebook by Roy Santos, information officer of the NPA-Communist Party of the Philippines in Eastern Visayas.

Boller denied allegations that he maintained a private army and was a military asset.

He said he was a “God-fearing” man who continued to enjoy the trust of the people.

Boller, nevertheless, admitted that the ambush made him think twice about running but he was prevailed upon by his supporters.

“I am running on the basis on the clamor of my people who have been suffering of extreme poverty because of the neglect of the current administration in Matuguinao,” he said.

The current mayor, Melissa de la Cruz, would seek to switch places with her younger sister, Carmel de la Cruz, who is the current vice mayor of Matuguinao.  /kga