Cop, 8 civilians killed,
12 injured in ambush
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

Eight civilians and a policeman were killed, and 12 were injured when they were ambushed by a group of suspected New People’s Army rebels at about 3:45 a.m. yesterday in Brgy. Puso, La Castellana, Negros Occidental, military and police reports said.

The victims were on board a Fuzo Canter truck, on their way home to the La Castellana town proper, after attending a fiesta in Brgy. Puso, when the ambush took place.

Killed in the ambush were PO1 Richard Canja, civilians Virginia Ordonez, Ricky Dingcong and Lito Lucban, barangay tanod members Mario Ricablanca and Teotimo Esplegera of Brgy. Puso, and BPAT (Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team) members Ulysses Tamayor, Jonathan Mateo and Ramir Complesa.

All were shot in the head
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

Even the eight civilians were not spared the barbarity of the suspects in the ambush on the truckload of fiesta-goers, who were on their way home early Sunday morning in La Castellana, Negros Occidental,.

All the victims, including a policeman, had gunshot wounds in the head, Senior Supt. Celestino Guara, caretaker of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, said.

This indicated that the ambushers said to be New People’s Army members, had made sure they were dead, by shooting them in the head, before fleeing, Guara added.

San Juan Rep. Joseph Victor Ejercito Estrada vowed to be the voice of the sugar industry and the people of Negros Occidental if elected to the Senate, during meetings with local government officials and sugar leaders in Bacolod City Saturday.

Ejercito Estrada said he is supporting the Sugarcane Development Act bill authored by Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District).

While the passage of the bill in the House has sailed through committee levels and, hopefully, at the plenary, the Senate still has to make its move, he said.