THE National Democratic Front (NDF) in Panay region debunked the government's claim of an encounter in Antique, saying seven of their non-combatant members were "massacred."
“No encounter took place in Atabay, San Jose, Antique at midnight on August 15, 2018. It was a massacre planned and executed by the criminal and fascist 301st Brigade, 61st Infantry Batallion, Antique PMF and San Jose PNP. More blood is on the hands of the fascist mercenary military and police in Panay,” Concha Araneta, spokesperson of the NDF-Panay, said in a statement Friday, August 17.
A report from the Antique police said joint elements of San Jose municipal police station and military personnel assigned in the area were serving an arrest warrant against Jason Talibo and Joven Ceralvo in Barangay Atabay around 12:10 a.m. Wednesday when they heard several gunshots.
An alleged "encounter" with the rebels ensued. Talibo and Ceralvo were facing charges of frustrated murder.
Police said the "encounter" resulted in the killing of Talibo, one of the subjects of the warrant; Karen Ceralvo, 41; Felix Salditos,60; Jason Sanchez, 27; Rene Yap, 61; Liezel Bandiola; and an unidentified male person.
Authorities said they recovered three hand grenades, two 40mm ammunition, two rifle grenades, a homemade single shot 12-gauge shotgun, two homemade .38 calibre pistols, a homemade KJ9, three magazines for KJ9, two empty magazines of unknown firearm, two laptop, 22 analog cellphone, seven Android cellphones, five tablets, a Canon DSLR camera, five pieces of Canon DSLR spare batteries, two pocket WiFi devices, a powerbank and assorted documents.
Araneta said their slain members were non-combatants and were unarmed. They were among the NDF's education and propaganda staff who were conducting research and investigation into the situation of the masses in Panay.
“The first lie was that the comrades were allegedly armed and the first to fire. The truth is that the comrades were unarmed and it was the mercenary troops who fired, sustained their fire and ceased firing when they were sure that all the comrades were dead inside the house. Most of the blood found were inside the house showing that the comrades were not in firing position but rather the fascist criminals rushed unto the unarmed sleeping comrades and fired upon them,” said Araneta.
She also said the evidence recovered inside the house, especially the firearms, were all "planted by the police."
“The truth is that their intention was to kill anyone who was in the house. If their intention was to serve the warrant, why execute it in the middle of the night, under cover of darkness? And to think that 61st IB’s Col and to think that Magbalot and Antique PNP chief Mark Darroca had a hundred men deployed just to capture two personalities,” she added.
Police and military officials maintained that the operation was legitimate.
Western Visayas police director Chief Superintendent John Bulalacao said it is absurd to claim that the NPA rebels did not fire against the law enforcers.
“Our men have warrants of arrest. The overwhelming pieces of evidence recovered speak for itself. We all know how brutal NPA guerillas are in killing government personnel even those involved in search and rescue operations, medical and SOCO personnel who are non-combatants are being ambushed,” he said.
He said they already anticipated such derogatory claims considering that those who perished in the shootout were mostly ranking officials of the CPP/NPA in the region. (SunStar Philippines)