Relief of Negros Occidental police chief sought

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines—Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. is seeking the relief of the Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office acting chief following the killing of a policeman and police asset on Monday in Escalante City.

He also called on Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II to act on the findings of Task Force Escalante, which was mandated by President Benigno Aquino III in October 2011 to investigate extrajudicial killings in Escalante City on the request of non-government organizations, the clergy and the victims’ relatives.

The governor said it has been more than a year since the task force was created but its findings have yet to be revealed and acted upon.

He said he would submit two requests—the implementation of task force findings and the relief of Senior Superintendent Celestino Guara as acting provincial police chief—to Roxas immediately.

His requests stemmed from the killing of Police Officer 1 Bejein Tanguan and police asset Joseph Lutrago who were gunned down allegedly by communist rebels in front of the public market in Barangay (village) Balintawak, Escalante City about 6:35 p.m. on Monday.

Tanguan managed to fire at one of the perpetrators whose body was later found in Barangay Jonob-Jonob, Escalante. He was identified as Marlon Pinio, 24, of Bohol.

Lutrago was a campaigner of mayoral candidate Santiago Barcelona and the United Negros Alliance, which Marañon heads.

Monday’s killing brought to 25 the number of unsolved extrajudicial killings in Escalante since 2007, Marañon said. Most of the victims were supporters of Barcelona and the killings were claimed by the New People’s Army.

Escalante, which is on the election watchlist, falls under Category 1, where employment of private armed groups by candidates and intense political rivalry are likely to occur.

In 2011, Escalante Mayor Melecio Yap Jr. was stripped of his supervisory power over the local police by the National Police Commission following allegations that he was sympathetic to the NPA, and because of the occurrence of alleged extrajudicial and unsolved killings in Escalante.

The mayor has denied the allegations.

Yap, who is seeking reelection against Barcelona, said Monday’s killing should not be linked to him since it was not politically motivated, but insurgency-related.

When reached for comment, Secretary Roxas said he would look into the latest killing in Escalante even if he had yet to receive the request of the governor.

He said he was not aware of the creation of the Task Force Escalante since it was made during the term of the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo who died in a plane crash in Masbate in August last year. But Roxas said he would look into what happened to the report so it could be acted on.

Marañon said he was seeking the relief of Guara for failing to give him a report on the Escalante killing and other previous major incidents in the province.

“I am very disgusted,” he said, noting that previous provincial directors would update him on incidents in the province immediately.

He accused Guara of being partisan, a claim denied by the police director.

Guara said the governor may have been misled into believing that the killing was related to politics when it was an insurgency matter.

He said he was not able to submit a report to the governor since the Escalante police had yet to furnish him with a report.