Posted: August 26th, 2012 | Filed under: News Events | Tags: cpp, npa, obligado, paquibato, parago |
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/26 August) — Five members of the New People’s Army (NPA) were reported killed in an firefight with government troops in Sitio Mangani, Barangay Tapak in Paquibato District at 5:45a.m. Sunday, the military reported.
Major Jacob Thaddeus Obligado, chief of the 10th Civil Miltiary Operations Battalion, said the NPA rebels attacked a detachment of the
combined troops of the 69th Infantry Battalion and Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu).
The firefight left five NPA rebels dead, claimed Obligado .
But government troops were able to recover only two bodies after the clash that lasted for an hour and 30 minutes.
Three Cafgu members were also wounded in the firefight, he said.
Injured militiamen are being treated at a military hospital, he said.
The military official also claimed that “the NPAs used civilians as shield to gain entry to the detachment.”
Paquibato District is a known operational territory of Leoncio Pitao, also known as Commander Parago, head of the 1st Pulang Bagani Command. (Keith Bacongco/MindaNews)
Posted: April 5th, 2011 | Filed under: News Events | Tags: 10th ID, afp, alan davis, davao city, davao del norte, duterte, extra-judicial killings, iwpr, kaloy zarate, new peoples army, paquibato, parago, rebelyn pitao, uplm |
DAVAO CITY — Two years after the killing of Rebelyn Pitao, the case seemed to have gathered dust since no witnesses have surfaced and her killers are still at large.
Pitao, daughter of New People’s Army (NPA) leader Leoncio Pitao a.k.a. Commander Parago, was abducted on her way home in Barangay (village) Bago in Davao City. The following day, her partially naked body was found in an irrigation ditch in Barangay San Isidro in Carmen, Davao Del Norte, about 50 kilometers north from this city.
While the government authorities are claiming that the case has not really progressed and the killers remained at large, her father admitted to have already killed three of the dozen suspects, all of them are military personnel according to the rebel leader.
But rights lawyer Carlos Zarate believes that the case of Pitao is not just a plain crime saying that it is more of a political issue given that the victim is a daughter of a revolutionary.
Zarate, along with his colleagues at the Union of Peoples’ Lawyers for Mindanao (UPLM), said that they are raising this issue before the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF) peace panels. Read More »
