ANOTHER witness in the killings allegedly perpetrated by New People's Army (NPA) rebels in Moises Padilla town has surfaced and again accused two local town officials of allegedly playing a part in the murders.
Rene Boy Angcona, 27, a resident Barangay Odiong, Moises Padilla, arrived in Bacolod Tuesday, August 13, to file his affidavit. He went to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to ask for assistance.
Angcona is already the fourth witness to the alleged NPA killings in the town.
Based on his affidavit, Angcona said he served as a member of the town's Civil Security Group (CSG) from June to September of 2017 and also became a barangay tanod until June 30 of this year.
On the evening of April 9, 2018, as he was riding his motorcycle, Angcona said he received a phone call from Police Officer 3 Nobel Perante informing him that the CSG's head, former Army sergeant Joerito Amable, was shot dead in the neighboring town of Isabela. Amable was attending the wake of his brother-in-law when shot dead.
Angcona said he was instructed by Perante to go to the CSG San Benito barracks to check who accompanied Amable to the wake. Upon arrival, he said he saw four CSG members identified as Archon Prado, Jezrel Prado, Eric Flores, and Edmar Flores talking to each other.
As he was walking two meters away from the four, he said he overheard Flores saying they pulled out at the same time when Amable was killed.
He then overheard Jezrel talking to Eric, stating that he has already informed then-town councilor Ian Villaflor that the "pig," referring to Amable, is already dead.
Angcona said he learned later on that the two Floreses were the ones who volunteered to accompany Amable to Isabela.
Angcona then rejoined Perante on the crime scene and saw Amable, along with two other victims identified as Alejandro Borres II and Federico Bitgue III, dead on the spot.
He also saw two other victims -- a 10-year-old boy and teacher Alquin Genterola Jr. -- wounded and awaiting transport to the hospital.
Angcona said he later analyzed the reason why the two Flores volunteered and that is to closely monitor Amable's route and movements and determine the exact time to kill him.
He said it was when Amable positioned himself along the highway, placing himself as a vulnerable target, that either of the two Floreses secretly informed Archon Prado that Amable was in the right place and an easy target.
Both Floreses were then informed to pull out from the area, even though they were supposed to stay with Amable.
He believes Archon Prado then gave the go signal to the NPA's Special Partisan Unit (Sparu) headed by Lorenzo Ferolino to implement the assassination.
Twenty days after the incident, Angcona said that he learned that the two Prados and the two Floreses are no longer working in the CSG, with both Floreses being hired as personal security aides by Villaflor, while both Prados accompanied then town Vice Mayor Ella Garcia-Yulo also as security aides.
Following the 2019 elections when Garcia-Yulo and Villaflor won the mayoralty and vice mayoralty race respectively, he said he was alarmed after hearing from reliable sources that a town councilor and an NPA commander have joined forces in hunting down people who did not go with them before and during elections by way of liquidation using the Sparu unit.
He said that on May 17, 2019, he saw the armed goons allegedly working on behalf of Garcia-Yulo at the back of their home looking for him. He believed the goons were there to either intimidate or scare him in order to stop him from disclosing what he knew about Amable's murder.
He added that he is currently in the Sparu's list for liquidation and he has decided to come out in order to seek assistance from authorities.
Earlier, former NPA rebel Noli Garinngo submitted his own affidavit before the CIDG, claiming Garcia-Yulo and Villaflor's links to the insurgent group.
The murder complaint filed against Garcia-Yulo and Villaflor based on earlier affidavits filed by Jully Opiar and Robert Sualog were earlier dismissed on the prosecutorial level, although they can be refiled.
Both Garcia-Yulo and Villaflor have denied the allegations.