Truck driver found dead

The body of a truck driver was found with six stab wounds, near the Super Ferry office at the Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp. port in Bacolod City at about 6 a.m. yesterday.

The poolice identified the victim as Sotero Rosario, 41, of Sancianco Street in Cebu City, who was employed by the Industrial Inspection International Incorporated, based in Makati City.

Station 2 chief, Senior Insp. Robert Dejucos, said several residents living near the area who were fetching water in a nearby water tank, saw Rosario lying on a wooden bed and already bathed in blood.

Dejucos said Rosario could have been dead for four to six hours, before his body was found.

Witnesses told the police that Rosario was last seen alive with a certain “Raymond Romo” of Brgy. E. Lopez, Silay City who works as a helper in one of the establishments near the port.

Investigation conducted by Police Officer 1 Leomel Guinanao showed that Rosario had drinks with his two helpers in a store near BREDCO port while waiting for a Roll-on-Roll-off vessel.

One of Rosario’s helpers, whose name is being withheld, said they went back to their truck, parked near the Montenegro Lines and waited for Rosario but he did not show up until they heard that a body had been found, Dejucos said.

The helper went to the area confirmed that it was Rosario, Dejucos added.

He, however, said that they are still trying to determine the motive for the killing.*APN

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Army alarmed by killings
carried out by NPA rebels

The Army’s 3rd Infantry Division yesterday expressed alarm over the spate of killings in Negros, which the New People’s Army owned up to, in what the Army described are punitive actions.

The NPA had claimed responsibility for the killing of rebel returnee Freddie Sanchez and a certain “Joseng” in Calatrava; Benjamen Sibonet and Edwin Flores in Moises Padilla; Aming Lutrago in Escalante City; and Roger Escura in Cauayan, all in Negros Occidental, since June last year the Army said.

Capt. Reylan Java, 3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs Office chief, described the so-called punitive actions of the NPA as a way of “threatening the civilians who are no longer giving them support, and for their members not to abandon the armed struggle, or else, they may suffer a similar fate”.

“How can they justify the murder of innocent civilians without giving them due process, and without giving their victims the chance to defend themselves before the court of law?” Java asked.

It is ridiculous, and beyond the normal state of mind to justify this crime, he said.

However, Cecil Estrella, spokesperson of NPA in northern Negros, in a statement justified the imposition of punitive actions against their former comrades and on civilians, who were working with the military in counter-revolutionary activities.

Estrella explained that the civilian status of rebel returnees may be compromised, based on the Rules of War, if they become active military assets.

Sanchez was among the first batch of rebel returnees in northern Negros who availed of financial and livelihood assistance from the provincial government of Negros Occidental, last year. He was gunned down two months ago by three NPA assassins in front of his residence in Sitio Peson, Brgy. Mina-utok, Calatrava, military records show.

Records also showed that the number of former rebels, who abandoned the armed struggle and rejoined the mainstream society, rose from 41 last year to 51, as of last week.

Major General Jose Mabanta, 3ID commanding general, in a statement, called the brutal killings of innocent civilians by the NPA, is a clear violation of human rights and a disrespect of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, that both sides had signed, to observe and respect.*GPB

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Pickpockets victimize 2

Two persons reported that they were victimized by pickpockets, who took their wallets, at the Bacolod City downtown area, yesterday and Saturday.

Henry Talamnan, 52, of Purok Magnolia in Brgy. 7, Bacolod, told the police that he fell asleep on the table at an establishment beside San Juan Street, Saturday night, and discovered his wallet gone when he woke up at about 1:50 a.m. yesterday.

Talamnan claimed his wallet contained identification cards and P1,200 in cash. He said a bystander told him that a certain Rey frisked him while he was asleep.

Mary Grace Roa Laud, 30, of Brgy. Binicuil in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, meanwhile, said she was standing in front of the San Sebastian Cathedral at about 3 p.m. Saturday, when she discovered her wallet, that contained her identification cards and P100, in cash, gone.

These cases are being investigated by operatives of Police Station 1.*APN

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