Wednesday, October 11, 2006 Cops say communist rebels may have killed Makati City mayor's aide
THE PNP on Tuesday said the New People's Army (NPA) could be behind the killing of the close aide of Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay last month in Taguig City.
Director Marcelo Elle Jr., head of the PNP directorate for investigation and detective management, made the pronouncement after making public the results of a test on the empty shells recovered from the crime scene.
Ele said the shells matched the shells recovered from the crime scene in the killing of labor leader Filemon "Popoy" Lagman in 2001. Lagman was allegedly slain by communist rebels at the University of the Philippines (UP) compound in Quezon City.
"Findings of the PNP Crime Laboratory showed the shell came from the same caliber.45 pistol that was used to kill Lagman. It is possible that the Left ordered the killing of (Pablo) Glean," said Ele.
Lagman's killing had been claimed by the NPA and its political wing, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Lagman was the former head of the Alex Bongcayao Brigade (ABB), the CPP-NPA's hit squad which gained prominence in the early 1990s.
Lagman joined the communist party in the late 1970s and has handled a number of sensitive posts in the movement and went above ground in the late 1990s. Before he was slain, Lagmay was leader of the militant Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilino (BMP).
Binay has insinuated that killing of his aide last September 16 was perpetrated by the government, who he had accused of political harassment. Binay is the president of the United Opposition.
Binay and Glean are affiliated with the Philippine Guardian Brotherhood Inc. (PGBI), a military-based group headed by former senator Gregorio Honasan, who is being hunted down for involvement in the short-lived Oakwood mutiny in 2003.
Glean, a retired Army captain, is also the head of the Makati City business permits and licenses office.
Earlier, the PGBI asked the PNP to conduct a full-blown investigation on Glean's killing. (VR/Sunnex)
(October 11, 2006 issue) Write letter to the editor. Click here. Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here.
