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Friday, January 24, 2003
Ex-NPA chief from Cebu shot to death
MANILA -- Romulo "Ka Rolly" Kintanar, former chief of the general command of the New People's Army (NPA), was gunned down while having lunch in a Japanese restaurant in Quezon City Thursday, in an attack that government officials are trying to pin on the comrades he deserted.
Four still unidentified gunmen wounded two of his companions in the attack, and military sources said former comrades in the guerrilla movement could have ordered the assault.
Autopsy results showed Kintanar was hit 10 times, bullets ripping through his chest and head, and died at once.
Two other men identified as Ricky Beltran and Ed Ruiz reportedly in the same table with Kintanar were rushed to the East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City for gunshot wounds.
Witnesses said Kintanar's group was about to leave Kamameshi Restaurant when the gunmen about five meters from their table stood up and started shooting Kintanar and his companions.
The assailants immediately fled. They were described by witnesses as 40-45 years old, 5'7" tall and wore decent clothes.
Agents of the Scene of the Crime Operation recovered at least 16 empty shells of .45 and 9 mm pistols.
A waiter of the restaurant said Kintanar was able to fire back at his assailants before he fell down.
Supt. Vladimir Villasenor, chief of the PNP Crime Laboratory, said based on the bullets recovered Kintanar was shot by more than one person.
The bullets used were reportedly a special kind that it was reshaped purposely to cling to body tissues.
The Quezon City police leadership has formed a team to focus its investigation on Kintanar's death.
"Ka Rolly" Kintanar, a former student leader, had masterminded the Maoist NPA's brief flirtation with an urban guerrilla assassination campaign in Manila and provincial centers that left hundreds of soldiers and policemen dead.
Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said "preliminary information" relayed to Malacaņang "indicates Kintanar had always been under constant threat since he turned his back on the NPA."
"We condemn the brutal slaying of Romulo Kintanar and we extend our sincerest sympathies to his family," Bunye added.
Supt. Rodolfo Mendoza, Pampanga Provincial Police Director, an ally of Kintanar said the latter wanted to confirm with him reports that the NPA leadership is stepping up efforts to liquidate him.
This was further corroborated by Nilo dela Cruz, a peace negotiator of RPA-ABB and an ally of Kintanar.
Arturo Tabara, a former NPA leader like Kintanar said in a television interview he was not surprised of the report since the latter was considered a major threat to the NPA organization.
Kintanar who was later expelled from the movement remained critical of self-exiled Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) leader Jose Maria Sison.
Tabara said Sison earlier accused them of plotting an
assassination against him with Kintanar as the implementor of the plot.
Rep. Simeon Kintanar (Cebu, 2nd district) told radio dyAB in Cebu that Kintanar, his cousin, was in Cebu during the weekend for the Sinulog festivities but had neither shown nor reported any anxiety about his personal safety.
Ka Rolly had openly joined political campaigns after he left the movement.
Three hours before his death, Kintanar was spotted by an ABS-CBN Manila crew in Camp Crame, while working on his papers for a gun permit.
He told them in an interview that he was optimistic about the prospects of peace talks between the government and the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade faction of the movement, which had broken away from Sison.
Kintanar was head of the NPA's general command until his capture in 1988.
He escaped the next year, but was recaptured in 1991.
But at the time of his death, Kintanar was a security consultant for the immigration bureau and the National Electrification Administration, as well as a key witness in the case on the murder of actress Nida Blanca.
A military intelligence source told Agence France Presse they suspect that the CPP leadership had ordered Kintanar assassinated by a special NPA unit.
At least two other senior NPA leaders who later left the movement were subsequently assassinated, including Felimon Lagman, who was shot dead in the same district as Kintanar two years ago.
Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, a former rebel leader, told ABS-CBN television he was unaware of any NPA threat against Kintanar.
He said there were a number of rebel leaders who were "removed from the leadership and who were moving about as freely as he was."
"There has not been a statement from the revolutionary movement that they are being targeted for physical elimination," Ocampo added.
Police sources said the attackers were in plainclothes and armed with high-powered pistols. They casually walked away after the attack.
Peace talks between the government and the CPP-NPA collapsed in 2001 after the rebels gunned down two legislators. (Sunnex/AFP) |
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