AGUSAN DEL NORTE – A New People’s Army (NPA) rebel shot dead a farmer just outside his house after around 50 combatants of the communist group visited him Wednesday, the police reported.
Police investigators who responded to the crime scene identified the victim as Edgar B. Jore, 45, and a resident of Barangay Bangonay, this province.
Initial investigation disclosed that on Wednesday (April 28) at around 6:00pm heavily-armed members of the New People’s Army visited the farmer in his house and without provocation dragged the farmer outside of his house and pointed to him an AK-45 rifle, and shot him three times, causing his untimely demise.
In an interview with PNA, Staff Sgt Sainodin Imam said the farmer’s wife Gertrudez Ensinada Jore and their 18-year-old son witnessed the killing.
Imam said: “Based on their testimonies, the fully-armed NPA rebels, around 50 of them, arrived in their house at around 6 p.m. on Wednesday. The perpetrators entered their house and immediately pointed an AK-45 rifle at the victim’s head. Then the armed men dragged the victim outside of their residence.”
“The victim succumbed to three gunshot wounds in the body and two on his feet,” the police officer added during an interview.
The farmer’s wife, Imam said, has identified one of the 50 rebels as a certain Sadam Porongoy Dayong, saying he also lives in Barangay Bangonay. Dayong was a member of the NPA’s Guerrilla Front (GF) 16A of the NPA’s North Eastern Mindanao Regional Committee.
The NPA rebels reportedly fled to the mountainous area in said barangay.
While the cadaver of the victim was retrieved by police authorities the next day due to the presence of a big number of NPA rebels in the area.
“The wife and his son told us that the victim was a simple farmer in their place who only attended to his farm every day for a living. He has no connections with the military or any group,” Staff Sgt Imam said.
Meanwhile, the Army’s 29th Infantry Battalion is now conducting hot pursuit operations in the mountains in Jabonga to find the retreating rebels. – with PNA report
