Wednesday, November 05, 2008 Inmate tags station attackers as suspects in ’07 ambush
A DETAINEE of the La Libertad Police Station said that some of those who attacked Sunday night were at the ambush of a barangay captain of the town last year.
This led police investigators to check if the attack was indeed conducted by the New People’s Army or by another political group.
The detainee’s statement is now being evaluated by investigators.
This was revealed to reporters yesterday by Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Ronald Roderos.
In March last year, Aya Barangay Captain Lydio Baylon and six others were slain in the mountain village of Mandapaton by men clad in fatigue uniforms.
Baylon was a supporter of Jocelyn Limkaichong, who was then mayor of La Libertad and is now first district representative.
Possible motives
However, investigators of the ambush had also considered his death to be insurgency-related as he was reportedly being targeted for liquidation. Communist rebels also owned up to the slaying in a statement posted in their website.
Roderos also ordered yesterday the relief of La Libertad’s police chief, Insp. Edgar Deposoy, pending investigation on possible security lapses.
“I condemn this looting. But I would like to commend the policeman who fought back,” Roderos said yesterday.
A heroism medal and wounded person medal will be bestowed on PO1 Carl Mark Jopillo, who grabbed an M16 rifle and fired at the fleeing attackers.
Jopillo was at the barracks, another structure at the back of the police station, when the suspected rebels attacked.
Roderos said the rebels thought there were several policemen fighting back as Jopillo was crouching, armed with an armalite rifle and engaged in a short gunfight at a distance of just two meters.
He was wounded in the right leg and jumped out of the window for safety while the attackers fled aboard a green Nissan Urvan.
An inmate at the police station attested that one of the suspected rebels was killed and that his comrades had to drag him all the way to the van.
Following the attack, Roderos reminded all police chiefs in Negros Oriental, Bohol and Cebu to always be on alert.
He said he will inspect police stations “every now and then” and that police stations should be on the lookout because rebels always used “deception and the element of surprise.” (MEA)
