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 »
Posted: March 14th, 2009 | Filed under: News Events, Photojournalism | Tags: afp, cpp, extrajudicial killing, npa, parago, pitao |
During the funeral march for Rebelyn Pitao, daughter of Commander Parago, on Saturday…police elements were like in every hundred meters. Even at the Davao Memorial Park, the police is everywhere… and not just with their short firearms…What does it mean? What kind of statement is it? What if Duterte is no longer the mayor of Davao City?
Posted: March 13th, 2009 | Filed under: News Events, Photojournalism | Tags: afp, communist movement, cpp, davao city, iwpr, lencio pitao, npa, parago, rebelyn |
DAVAO CITY – Rebelyn was wearing her white school teacher’s uniform when she left home to go to work. “Ma, lakaw na ko,” (Ma, I have to go now), she called out to her mother Evangeline.
It was 6.30am – the last time Mrs Pitao saw her 20-year old daughter: It was the last time she ever heard her voice.
Rebelyn usually arrived back home by 6:30 pm each school day. But last week, Wednesday March 4, there was no sign of her. Mrs Pitao was worried: An hour and a half later, local police officers and a tricycle driver knocked on her door and brought news that Rebelyn had been abducted on her way home by armed gunmen. Read More »
