Military Behind Mayor’s Killing – NPA

Government investigators  are yet to name the suspected killers of the Sta. Rosa mayor but the military has already accused the New People’s Army of the killing. The NPA  in turn has its own theory.

By DENNIS ESPADA
Bulatlat

SANTA ROSA CITY, Laguna – The Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG), National  Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the city police here admitted that they are yet to identify those responsible for the killing of Mayor Pantaleon Arcillas three weeks ago.

Popularly known for his nickname Leon (lion), Arcillas and his security aide, Erwin Rivera, were gunned gown by unknown assailants shortly after officiating a mass wedding inside the new city hall building here, some 38 kms south of Manila.

According to progressive organizations in Laguna, Arcillas was involved in "anti-people" activities in the city such as massive election fraud, graft and corruption, trade union repression and violent demolition of shanties of urban poor dwellers in Barangay Pulong, Sta. Cruz town from 2002 to 2003.

Newly-installed Mayor Jose Catindig Jr. offered P1 million ($18,382.35, based on an exchange rate of P54.40 per US dollar) as reward money for the suspects' arrest.

Precise operation

Military and police authorities blamed the New People's Army (NPA) for the killing of Arcillas. However, the NPA's Melito Glor Command (MGC-NPA) based in Southern Tagalog has tagged the military as the “brains" behind the murder.

In a statement however MGC-NPA spokesman Tirso Alcantara (also known as Ka Bart; ka is a Filipino word for comrade) said that Arcillas' assassination was a "calculated operation" of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Internal Security Group (ISAFP-ISG).

According to Alcantara, this was carried out "to foment violent attacks against the legal democratic movement" in the Southern Tagalog region and “to implicate them outright in fabricated terrorist activities."

The MGC-NPA also accused the ISAFP-ISG of conniving with a city councilor and a barangay captain to carry out the killing of urban poor leader and Gabriela Women's Party coordinator Mely Trinidad-Carvajal in August 2004.

"The military is hard put to make it appear that the NPA carried out the killing in retaliation for the murder of Carvajal," Alcantara said.

The killer suspects, he said, are said to be confidential agents of the ISAFP. Alcantara added, "They scoop millions from the bribes of the capitalists. Now that Arcillas is gone, the brothers will corner the bureaucrat spoils."

The MGC-NPA as well as the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) urged the people to remain vigilant and militant in defending their democratic rights and civil liberties against "violent attacks from the military." Bulatlat

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