Wednesday, September 05, 2007 Lumad, paramilitary trooper slain in Bukidnon By Danilo V. Adorador III
Killings occur after commie rebels 'declare war' in Mindanao
* Military dares militant leftists to denounce killings
SUSPECTED communist rebels killed a tribal leader and a female militia in separate killings, acts that are gross violations of human rights and should be punished in courts, the military said.
Rebels gunned down 62-year-old Datu Macahining in a hinterland village in Bukidnon last Friday, two days after the communist liquidation unit killed a member of the Civilian Auxiliary Force Geographical Unit (Cafgu) in the Caraga region.
The killings occurred days before communist National Democratic Front (NDF) North Central Mindanao spokesman Jorge Madlos said communist rebels would attack "legitimate military targets" in the coming days.
The attacks, he said, are in retaliation for the National Government's role in allegedly masterminding the arrest of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison.
Macahining, also known as Romeo Inta, was killed by three suspected communist NPA rebels while he was on his way to a barangay hall of Impasug-ong village.
The Fourth Infantry Division (4ID) identified Macahining's assailants as belonging to the Front Committee 89 of the NPA's North Central Regional Committee.
Last August 28, suspected members of the Special Partisan Unit (Sparu)--a notorious NPA liquidation squad--shot to death Cafgu member Jennifer I. Esperon in Gigaquit town in Surigao del Norte where she was based.
Esperon suffered a gunshot wound on her left lower left breast from a .45 caliber weapon, causing her immediate death.
Macahingin's death, meanwhile, was still being investigated.
Major General Jose T. Barbieto, 4th ID commanding general, condemned both killings, branding them as "classic examples of extrajudicial killings" by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP-NPA).
He also challenged Karapatan, a militant human rights group, to denounce the case of Esperon and other victims of NPA killings.
He also appealed to the families of the victims to come out and denounce the killings.
Colonel Dante Fernandez, commanding officer of the Caraga-based 402nd Infantry Brigade, said Esperon's killing has been reported to the Inter-agency Legal Action Group (IALAG),which handles cases of atrocities perpetrated by the NPA.
The military is accusing left-leaning organizations of actively aiding the communist insurgency, while progressive groups counters by saying the military is "Red-baiting."
