The national commander of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade, Carapali Lualhati, yesterday called the National Police Commission findings that Escalante Mayor Melecio Yap had asked the New People's Army to eliminate him "simply ridiculous."

The Napolcom recently ordered the suspension of the administrative and operational control of Yap over the Escalante police. The order has yet to be implemented pending the arrival of guidelines for its implementation.

The July 15 suspension order of the Napolcom signed by its chairman, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, cited Yap’s alleged close association with the New People’s Army and extra-judicial killings in his city.

EB Magalona Mayor David Albert Lacson, president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines-Negros Occidental chapter and Negros Association of Chief Executives, yesterday said the mayors of the province are rallying behind Yap.

He said the Negros ACE and LMP Negros Occidental mayors will meet this week and will come out with their resolutions of support.

The Napolcom resolution also cites a report of Chief Supt. Cipriano Querol Jr., police director for Western Visayas, alleging that Yap gave KG-99 and AR-15 assault rifles and a .45 caliber Colt pistol to the NPA hit squad to eliminate Lualhati.

At a press conference yesterday, Lualhati said he would like to state for the record that the findings of the Napolcom against Yap using his name as the reason “has no basis” and is unfair to him, and pointed out that the mayor has been his friend.

“I would also like to issue a protest against the Napolcom for their failure to inform me of this alleged threat, I learned about all this only through the media,” he said.

Lualhati said that as a member of the negotiating panel and a former member of the Joint Enforcement Monitoring Team of the peace agreement between the government and the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade, “I expected to have been informed of this so called intelligence report”.

“My life is allegedly being threatened in that intelligence report and at the very least, they could have furnished me or informed me of that even as an ordinary citizen, more so as the national commander of the RPA-ABB,” he said.

Luahati said the findings are “simply ridiculous”, and pointed out that he gets to see Yap almost on a monthly basis through common friends. “He (Yap) has been a friend for many years and, as such, could have had plenty of opportunity to get rid of me if he wanted to as they alleged,” Lualhati said.

“What I find troublesome is that the report could be used to put the blame on me or on Mayor Yap in case something happens to either one of us,” he said.

Lualhati pointed out that it is a fact and of public knowledge that he is included in the order battle of the NPA, but using his name as a basis to suspend Yap has no basis.

On Saturday, Yap also denied the charges that he provided material support to the New People's Army and had used the NPA to intimidate his political opponents.

The mayor lamented that the Napolcom did not give him a chance to air his side before coming up with a resolution that removed his administrative and operational control over the police.

“The inquiry was conducted unilaterally without giving a chance to present my side and without even informing me of the complaint against my person, thus violating my fundamental right as a human and dignity as a person,” he said.

Yap strongly denied that he has provided weapons to the NPA hit squad to eliminate Lualhati, and  blamed his political opponents for the continued “smear campaign” against him.*CPG

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