A NATIONAL Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) consultant was shot dead while sleeping on board a bus on Wednesday morning, January 30, in Nueva Vizcaya.
A report by the Cagayan Valley Police Regional Office (PRO 2) said NDFP consultant Randy Malayao was aboard a Victory Liner bus bound for Isabela when he was shot dead.
The unidentified gunman boarded the bus when it made a stop around 2 p.m. in Aritao town.
Malayao was shot twice. He was sleeping during the shooting.
The gunman got off the bus after the shooting and fled on a motorcycle driven by another man.
“Per intel report, Felix Randy Malayao was the head of RWAC (Regional White Area Committee) in Region 2. Under niya po lahat ng sectoral groups that operate in Cagayan Valley Region,” the police said.
Malayao was among those charged in relation to the killing of Cagayan Representative Rodolfo Aguinaldo and his aide Joey Garro in 2001.
A Cagayan court, however, acquitted Malayao for lack of evidence that he took part in the murder.
Malayao was among the NDFP peace consultants who took part in the peace talks between the NDFP, political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and the government in the Netherlands.
When the talks collapsed, President Rodrigo Duterte said he wanted all the CPP-NDFP-NPA to be tagged as terrorists.
He also ordered an all-out war against the New People's Army (NPA), armed wing of the CPP, and instructed government forces to arrest the leftist group's leaders.
Activist groups condemned Malayao’s murder, describing this as another case of extrajudicial killing. (SunStar Philippines)