{"id":159407,"date":"2018-04-10T03:37:09","date_gmt":"2018-04-10T07:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=159407"},"modified":"2018-04-10T03:37:09","modified_gmt":"2018-04-10T07:37:09","slug":"npa-spokesperson-admits-rebels-kill-tribal-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/04\/10\/npa-spokesperson-admits-rebels-kill-tribal-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"NPA spokesperson admits rebels kill tribal leader"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Members<\/a>
Members of the New People\u2019s Army (NPA) admitted that it is responsible for the death of a town\u2019s representative of the indigenous peoples (IP) in the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) in Magpet, Cotabato, its spokesperson revealed on Sunday, April 8. (PNA photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Members of the New People\u2019s Army (NPA) admitted that it is responsible for the death of a town\u2019s representative of the indigenous peoples (IP) in the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) in Magpet, Cotabato, its spokesperson revealed on Sunday, April 8.<\/p>\n

According to NPA\u2019s spokeswoman Isabel Santiago, the rebel group ordered Antonio Takinan\u2019s death, which served as his punishment for his alleged involvement in the anti-insurgency campaign and human rights violations in the province.<\/p>\n

Takinan, an ex-officio member of the SB, was shot dead on April 4 by six suspected communist rebels in Barangay Tagbac.<\/p>\n

His two other companions were identified as Robello Tambunan, his brother-in-law, and a village watchman, Rene Soriano.<\/p>\n

The victims were said to be riding two separate motorcycles and were heading home after attending the town council session when they were attacked by the rebels who carried .45 caliber pistols and M-16 assault rifles.<\/p>\n

Takinan was accused by Santiago of serving as an intelligence agent for the military and was responsible for forced recruitment of some IPs to combat the NPA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe standing order imposed by the NPA against Takinan stemmed from his active intelligence gathering activities, forced recruitment of indigenous peoples for the paramilitary CAFGU (Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit) Bagani fighters, and assisting the military in its combat operations that resulted in grave human rights and international humanitarian law violations,\u201d Santiago said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTakinan\u2019s intel activities led to the indiscriminate mortar shelling and aerial bombardment of Lumad communities on\u00a0December 21\u00a0last year by the 39th Infantry Battalion,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The NPA official stressed that the slain tribal leader also helped government troops \u201cterrorize\u201d IP communities of Manobo, forcing civilians to either surrender or admit being communist supporters.<\/p>\n

Aside from this, Santiago also disclosed that Takinan \u201ctook advantage\u201d of land disputes in the hinterlands of Magpet by extorting money from the Lumads.<\/p>\n

Before the NPA could even release its statement on the matter, the police earlier tagged them as the perpetrator of the ambush.<\/p>\n

Rep. Nancy Catamco of North Cotabato\u2019s 2nd district on Friday urged the government forces to look deeper into the case of the slain tribal leader \u201cso justice will be served.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBring the suspects before the bar of justice to restore the IPs confidence in the government,\u201d Catamco said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us not be carried by our emotions. Let us reflect on why it happened and its message so we take necessary measures to prevent similar incidents in the future,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

According to Magpet Police Chief Senior Insp. Jose Mari Molina, Takinan had been receiving threats to his life but ignored it, saying that he had no known enemies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members of the New People\u2019s Army (NPA) admitted that it is responsible for the death of a town\u2019s representative of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":109631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[49503,3592,49504],"class_list":["post-159407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-antonio-takinan","tag-new-peoples-army","tag-tribal-leader","mauthors-joanna-belle-deala","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}