Monday, March 24, 2008 Duterte reminds NPA that village execs are gov't
DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte chided the New People's Army (NPA) for targeting barangay officials because of their alliance to government, reminding the rebels that the village executives are part of the government.
"It is part of their job to cooperate with government troops as they are government officials," Duterte, who was nearing the verge of anger, said in his Sunday television program "Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa."
This reaction was in relation to the NPA's assassination of Fatima barangay captain Custodio Varona last Tuesday evening while the barangay official was with his wife. His wife was spared but the rebels ran off with Varona's .45 caliber pistol, P10,000 cash, and wristwatch.
Duterte said that as the barangay chief is allied with the government and was carrying a firearm, he was an immediate target of the rebel group.
"Dugay na siyang gipangita (The rebels have been hunting him down)," Duterte said of Varona.
The mayor said that with the way things are going and the rebels' penchant to kill government supporters, then they will have to kill a lot of people.
"Halos lahat ngayon nasa gobyerno na (Almost everyone is in government already)," Duterte said.
Despite the murder and robbery acts committed by the rebels, Duterte, who is also a lawyer, said only a single crime could be blamed on the perpetrators.
"Only rebellion," Duterte said.
Duterte added that the crime of rebellion absorbs the other crimes committed in the furtherance of their cause.
The top police officials of Southern Mindanao and Davao City were quick to condemn the killing of Varona, calling it a plain act of banditry.
Davao City Police Office Director Jaime Morente said in an interview last week that the actions of the rebel group are already bereft of any ideology. "It is a very deplorable act," Morente said.
For his part, Chief Superintendent Andres Caro II, police regional director, likened the act of the rebel group to that of "kawatans" or robbers.
"There is no more cause or ideology being fought for, para na silang mga kawatan (they're plain thieves)," Caro said. (CPM)
