NPA says sorry for killing
civilians in La Castellana
BY CARLA GOMEZ

They did it, they said.

The New People’s Army yesterday admitted responsibility for killing nine persons, including a policeman, in Barangay Puso, La Castellana, on January 27.

It also apologized for the death of two civilians, and the wounding of a 14-year-old boy and others.

In a tape-recorded message sent to the media, Ka JB Regalado, spokesman of the Leonardo Panaligan Command of the NPA, said they will assist the families of the civilian victims and take disciplinary action against their military unit responsible for the incident and its head under the principle of command responsibility.

Surrender those
responsible, military says
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

The military yesterday challenged the New People’s Army to surrender its members who were responsible for the massacre of civilians and policemen in La Castellana, to answer for the crimes they had committed.

The ambush claimed the lives of eight civilians and a policeman, and caused injuries to 12 others, police records show.

Maj. General Jose Mabanta, 3rd Infantry Division commander, yesterday said that the government and the Filipino people want a justice system that is not served through killings.

“It was an assault to human life”

That was how Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra Thursday night described the ambush in Brgy Puso, La Castellana, in Negros Occidental Sunday that left nine persons dead.

Ka JB Regalado, spokesperson of the Leonardo Panaligan Command in Central Negros, admitted in a recorded statement yesterday that their colleagues were behind the ambush.

“As human beings, they should have respected life and spared the innocent civilians”, Navarra said.