DAVAO CITY -- Communist rebels tortured and killed an Army soldier they abducted last week in Compostela Valley province, military officials said Sunday.

The bullet-riddled body of Staff Sergeant Rollen Maglangit was found around 6:30 p.m. Saturday near a farming village of Pasian in Monkayo town, Compostela Valley.

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Regional Army spokesman Major Michele Anayron said there were signs Maglangit had been tortured.

Anayron said New People's Army (NPA) rebels were to blame.

"This act of the NPA is deplorable," said regional military commander Major General Ricardo David.

He urged people to "unite and raise one voice in condemning this violation and blatant disrespect of human rights."

Senior Superintendent Ronald dela Rosa, Compostela Valley police director, said they received information about the discovery of Maglangit’s body from Pasian barangay captain Joy Crizaldo.

Anayron said the soldier’s body will be brought to his residence in Bayugan, Agusan del Sur.

Admission

The NPA's Merardo Arce Command-Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command admitted to have killed Maglangit when he attempted "to escape from his guerrilla captors" on Friday, May 22.

Regional rebel spokesman Rigoberto Sanchez said Maglangit was shot while trying to escape after he was captured at a rebel checkpoint mounted by a platoon of the Conrado Heredia Command of the Guerrilla Front 20 (CHC-NPA) along the national highway in Barangay Pasian.

"He was seized after the Red fighters of the CHC-NPA disarmed him of his service .45 cal pistol and upon proper determination of his active status in the abusive 36th IB-AFP," Sanchez said.

He also said that Maglangit was told he would be investigated for possible human rights abuses, but then started to resist and made a dash to freedom, thus the shooting.

Sanchez alleged that Maglangit’s unit, the 36th Infantry Battalion, has a “notorious record" for human rights violation in the provinces of Agusan del Sur, Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley.

"This incident should serve as a strong warning to captured enemy personnel," Sanchez said in a statement posted on a rebel website, adding that other captured soldiers were treated well because they made no attempt to escape.

Execution

Maglangit, who was abducted around 10:30 a.m. Friday, was shot in the back at least 15 times with assault rifles, according to Compostela Valley police chief Senior Superintendent Ronald dela Rosa.

He said policemen who responded to the area subsequently transported the victim’s body to Angel Funeraria in Poblacion Monkayo for autopsy.

Autopsy results showed that the soldier succumbed to 13 gunshot wounds from M16 rifle and two gunshot wounds from a shotgun.

Dela Rosa said all of the wounds were reportedly at the back of Maglangit's torso, meaning he was shot from behind.

“I don't think he died while escaping. It looked more like an execution by a firing squad," dela Rosa said.

Major Randolph Cabangbang, spokesman of the Eastern Mindanao Command, said Maglangit could have been killed by the rebels in the afternoon of Friday.

"The rebels left him like a dead pig," Cabangbang said in a text message Saturday evening.

Retaliation

Major General David, meanwhile, said Maglangit may have been killed by rebels seeking to avenge the death of 10 of their comrades during an Army offensive in nearby Agusan del Sur province last week.

Separately, suspected communist rebels killed three soldiers in an ambush of an Army patrol Saturday in central Negros Oriental province, police said.

Major General Reynaldo Mapagu, for his part, hailed Maglangit, saying he was merely doing his task as a soldier "in protecting the Filipinos from harm's way."

"We believe that he was murdered immediately after his kidnapping. I am sure that Sergeant Maglangit was not even sentenced by their kangaroo court. He was a brave soldier. He was going around his area of work, checking on the reported harassment of civilians by the NPA, when he was kidnapped," Mapagu said.

Officials said they are still confident they will meet President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's deadline to end the 40-year-old communist rebellion by the time she steps down next year.

The NPA rebels now number 5,000, down from their peak strength of about 25,000 in the mid 1980s, mainly due to battle losses and surrenders. (BOT/NCB/AP/With reports from Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro/Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)