|
ILOILO CITY: Militant groups stormed major army camps
in Antique and Iloilo Monday to locate two fellow caused-oriented
members—Ma. Luisa Posa-Dominado and Nilo Arado—who remain
missing for the past few days after having been allegedly kidnapped
by armed men Thursday evening last week in Barangay Cabanbanan, Oton,
Iloilo.
Spearheaded by Bayan-Panay, the
militant groups took off from Museo Iloilo on Monday morning for a
motorcade to Antique, where they paid a courtesy call on Gov. Sally
Zaldivar-Perez before they proceeded to the Philippine Army’s 79th
Infantry Battalion headquarters in Barangay San Fernando, San Jose,
in that province.
Lt. Col. Nestor Porluca, 79th IB
commanding officer, even welcomed the militant groups and gave them
the opportunity to freely conduct routine inspection of camp
facilities and buildings except the armory and private rooms amid
allegations that the military had a hand in the alleged abduction.
Porluca, however, said the army
has no involvement in the abduction case, saying they have not
conducted any search operation as the alleged crime scene is far
from their area of jurisdiction. He believed the incident is not in
anyway related to politics but deemed it as a sort of propaganda
against the government.
The militant groups also visited
the 12th Infantry Battalion’s headquarters in Camp Monteclaro in
Miagao, Iloilo, for a similar search before they went back to Iloilo
empty handed with no possible lead on the whereabouts of their
subject.
Bayan-Panay spokesman Boy Bosque
and his allied militant groups admitted they suspected the abductors
to be military personnel and the search is part of their effort to
locate Dominado and Arado allegedly being held captive in military
camps.
It was learned that Dominado of
Selda-Panay and Arado, secretary-general of the militant Bagong
Alyansang Makabayan-Panay, together with several progressive
party-list movers, went to Antique, where they met Rep. Exequiel
Javier to discuss their proposed projects in Caluya, Antique, as
well as political matters during this campaign period. They left
Antique at 6 p.m. Thursday on April 12 onboard an L200 Mitsubishi
service pick-up when blocked and snatched by armed men in Barangay
Cabanbanan, Oton, Iloilo, about 10 p.m.
The armed men shot the pick-up
driver, Garachico, in his neck before they commandeered the service
car and drove away with Dominado and Arado onboard. The police later
recovered the debris of the burnt Mitsubishi pick-up somewhere in
the sugar-cane field in Barangay Guadalupe, Janiuay, Iloilo, past 4
a.m. the following day, Friday.
Meanwhile, Armed Forces of the
Philippines’ 32nd Civil Relations Service Group commander, Col.
Lowen Gil Marquez, dared Bayan-Panay to prove their unfounded
accusation against the military, which he said was merely based on
speculation following the reported extrajudicial killings of
activists and progressive party-list members happening in the
country.
Marquez said that the CPP/NPA/NDF
founder and exiled Supremo Joma Sison himself has ordered its armed
wing, NPA’s special operations group, to abduct Dominado and Arado
even before the slay try on the driver and Karapatan-Panay chairman
Jose Ely Gararchico on the neck.
--PNA
|
