By Glazyl Y. Masculino
BACOLOD City – The Leonardo Panaligan Command of the New People’s Army (LPC-NPA)-Central Negros Guerrilla Front admitted killing a barangay official in Vallehermoso, Negros Oriental last Monday.
Based on police investigation, Kagawad Nonie Cadorna of Sitio Binakayan, Barangay Tabon and his daughter were on their way home from Sitio Bay-ang when two unidentified armed persons shot the barangay councilman several times, hitting the different parts of his body.
After the incident, the suspects fled heading towards Barangay Kalupaan, Guihulngan City, according to the police.
In a statement released to the media last Tuesday, Ka JB Regalado, spokesperson of LPC, said that Cadorna was killed as he was allegedly threatening some residents, and forced civilians to surrender and claim as supporters of the NPA.
The rebel group also alleged that Cadorna was an intelligence asset of the Army’s 62nd Infantry Battalion (IB) in the said village.
The group said they have reached out to Cadorna thrice and even warned him, but he allegedly refused to change and chose to go against the revolutionary movement.
Regalado said that Cadorna’s death served as a warning to the intelligence assets of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and the police.
They also clarified that not all local government units (LGUs) are targets of the NPA. Only LGUs with those kinds of behavior or action shown by Cadorna could be a target, the group said.
Meanwhile, Brigadier General Inocencio Pasaporte, commander of the 303rd Infantry Brigade (IBde), said that upon verification, Cadorna was not an intelligence asset of the Army.
Pasaporte said that as a barangay official, Cadorna was open to helping his constituents.
Pasaporte said the killing came a month after some residents of the town condemned the atrocities of the NPA.
He said the NPA always justify their killings by considering their targets as intelligence assets.
