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Agusan Sur mayor, son shot dead; NPA eyed

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By: Franklin Caluguid, Nancy C. Carvajal, Nikko Dizon

Inquirer Mindanao, Philippine Daily Inquirer


01:02 AM October 21st, 2015

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BUTUAN CITYThey came around 6 p.m. on Monday, wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the letters NBI.
They wore slippers and said they had come to arrest the mayor.

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dead in a mountainous villagevictims of a double execution allegedly carried out by New Peoples Army

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MayorDarioOtazaofLoreto,AgusandelSurposesforaninterviewwithreportersinDecemberlastyear
sayinghistownhasmanagedtodriveawaycommunistinsurgentsNewPeoplesArmyanddissuaded
residentsfromjoiningthegroup.HewasaformerNPArebelhimselfwhoreturnedtothefoldsofthelawand
managedtoenterpolitics.Heandhis27yearoldsonwereslainlastTuesday.DENNISJAY
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On Tuesday morning, 12 hours later, Loreto Mayor Dario Otaza and his 27-year-old son Daryl were found

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(NPA) rebels.
They had been hogtied and their bodies were riddled with bullets.
Otaza was a former rebel who surrendered and later
became mayor of Loreto in Agusan del Sur province,
helping liberate the town from insurgents influence.
He became an outspoken critic of the NPA and helped
convince nearly 250 rebels, most of them members of
his lumad indigenous community, to surrender to the

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government.
Lumad is a Bisayan term meaning native or
indigenous, a word adopted by some ethnic groups to
distinguish themselves from Mindanaons, Moro or
Christian.
Palace slams killings
The son of a slain NPA leader has been tagged by investigators as the leader of 16 to 18 armed men who
abducted and executed Otaza and his son.

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10/21/2015

Agusan Sur mayor, son shot dead; NPA eyed | Inquirer News
Malacaang denounced the killings.

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We condemn in the strongest possible terms this cowardly act, Communications Secretary Herminio
Coloma Jr. said. We hope Mayor Otazas death unites the people of Agusan del Sur, the Manobos and the
entire lumad community, and every decent Filipino in working towards meaningful peace.
A military report said Otaza and his son were taken from their home in Barangay Baan Riverside by men
who posed as NBI agents and were carrying M-4 rifles.
The Otazas hands were tied behind their backs when found five barangays away from where they were
seized.
The area where the bodies were found is mountainous and isolated, said one investigator.

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Confusing NBI shirts


The mayors security staff said four to five gunmen in NBI shirts and riding on a Starex van without a plate
number blocked the gate and forcibly entered the mayors house.
According to the mayors bodyguards, they were not able to respond quickly because of confusion over the
NBI shirts.
One of the Inquirer sources said that apart from the gunmen who took the victims away, others
surrounded the house and still others were on motorized bancas in a river near the house.
The bodyguards also said Otaza fought the abductors but was kicked and punched and forced into the van.

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The Starex was found abandoned in the next town, one investigator said.
The bodies of the Otazas were recovered by troops from the Armys 23rd Infantry Battalion.

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Coloma described Otaza as an invaluable partner for peace in the region.


His programs to ensure that former rebels have the means to lead dignified lives encouraged many
insurgents to lay down their arms, Coloma said.
Security officials suspect that NPA rebels from the Guerilla Front Command 4A took part in the double
killing because of the methodology employed and the motive behind the crime.
Primary suspects
The Armys Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) spokesperson, Lt. Col. Jake Obligado, said the
killings violated international human rights law as father and son were civilians. The Otazas were also

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clearly a threat to the NPAs, Obligado said.


They are the primary suspects, Undersecretary Emmanuel Bautista of the Cabinet Cluster on Security and
Peace told Malacaang reporters.
Bautista, a former Armed Forces chief of staff, said the abductors really had the intention to kill father and
son.
Mayor Otaza was himself a Manobo leader and a former NPA rebel who surrendered to the government in
1986 soon after the restoration of democracy.
More than 250 lumad who joined the NPA returned to the government fold because of Otaza, Bautista said.
In May, 154 lumad surrendered to Otaza and government officials that included Bautista, Presidential
Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles and Eastmincom chief Lt. Gen. Aurelio Baladad.
Otaza told the Inquirer at the time that he and his wife left the armed movement after the 1986 Edsa
People Power Revolution because the fight against the Marcos dictatorship was over.
He had since devoted his life to helping his fellow indigenous people.
The lumad, struggling to protect their land, have been in the center of conflicts, in which militants blame
the military for alleged human rights abuses.
The military presence has supposedly displaced nearly a thousand lumad in Talaingod and Kapalong in
Davao del Norte and San Fernando, Bukidnon since August.

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A lumad school director and two other indigenous leaders were killed in September in Lianga, Surigao del
Sur, allegedly by a paramilitary group supported by the Army. The military denied the allegation.
Bautista said several lumad killings were perpetrated by the NPA. Hundreds have been killed in the past so
many years, he said.
It is unfortunate that the lumad are in the center of all of this, Bautista said. Their ancestral domains are

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/733162/agusan-sur-mayor-son-shot-dead-npa-eyed

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10/21/2015

Agusan Sur mayor, son shot dead; NPA eyed | Inquirer News
where most of the NPA guerilla bases are. We appeal to the NPA to spare the lumad.

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video!

Bautista added: They deserve to live freely in their ancestral domain and we hope that this is respected.
Any ideological or political issue must be resolved without exploiting any groups.
Leader of the raiders
Col. Alexander Macario, commander of the Armys 401st Infantry Battalion, said that Ka Tindogan, head of
the NPA Front Committee 34, had been identified by Otazas security escorts as the head of the rebel team
that swooped down on the mayors residence.
Macario said Tindogan was also identified by barangay chair Jeremiah Cafe as the one who approached
village officials pretending to be NBI agents out to arrest Otaza.
Tindogan is the son of Rene Tindogan, former head of the NPA Front Committee 88, which operates in
Agusan del Sur and Surigao del Sur. The elder Tindogan and nine other rebels were killed by a Manobo
tribal militia force organized by Otaza in a raid on a rebel camp outside Loreto in 2009.
No doubt the NPA was behind the killing of Mayor Otaza. The son of Rene was identified during the
abduction, Macaritold the Inquirer.
Case of revenge
Macario said execution of Otaza and his son were a clear case of revenge attacks. The NPA has not issued
any statement.
Melencio Otaza, the mayors elder brother, said that if indeed [the mayor] had debts in the revolutionary
movement so be it, but why include my nephew, hes innocent.
Capt. Patrick Martinez, spokesperson of the 4th Infantry Division, said based on the manner of the
executions, the suspects bore extreme anger for Otaza.
Its a hate crime, he said.
Mayor Otaza was running for reelection.
Otaza, a close relative of Agusan del Sur Gov. Eddiebong Plaza, was elected mayor in 2013. He had since
become an outspoken critic of the NPA.

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Interior Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento said: Since he returned to the fold, he has been active in
encouraging other [rebels] to turn away from the armed struggle. The mayor has been instrumental in
ensuring there are appropriate benefits for rebels who decide to help the government through legal
means. With reports from Frinston Lim and Karlos Manlupig, Inquirer Mindanao; Julie M. Aurelio and
Jaymee T. Gamil in Manila

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Agusan Sur mayor, son shot dead; NPA eyed | Inquirer News

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Otto Leroj Saint Mary's School for Boys


Npa has become a terrorist group for so long now.any vote for the candidates of the left is only
coddling these murderes!NO TO THE LEFTIST CANDIDATES COMES 2016!NO TO
COLMENARES!
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bystander43

5 hours ago

military operations in agusan-surigao areas are said to be active nowadays, allegedly clearing
the way for big mining companies. Notably, there were NGO leaders, suspected to be left
leaning, who were killed by paramilitary, and there are hundreds of evacuees who refuse to go
back to their places to avoid being caught in the crossfire. Just like in the past, using military in
addressing problems in insurgency will just increase the counts of body bags from both sidesthe government and insurgents.
Reply Share

2016presidentiable > bystander43

3 hours ago

e sino po ba ang may utos sa military para i-clear ang dadaanan ng mga malalaking
mining companies? who owns the big mining companies?

Reply Share

Alfred (elf counsel)

6 hours ago

NPA is nothing but a lost cause. From freedom fighters to common criminals who survive by
leeching themselves to the innocent civilians.
Aside from their so called revolutionary tax, they've also ventured as gun for hires, kidnappers
and other illegal activities.
These people are following blindly an ideology that is rejected by many. Yet, they fight and die
will their so called founders are just having a good life abroad.


elang58

Reply Share

8 hours ago

This NPA group are probably financed by China, to make our country distable. Communist
China and this Makapili group, want to rule to put down democracy.
1

Reply Share

nibor namtab

9 hours ago

it just shows that duterte is wiser than mayor ortega.

Reply Share

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10/21/2015

Agusan Sur mayor, son shot dead; NPA eyed | Inquirer News
nibor namtab

9 hours ago

ano kaya say ni duterte dito? either BUHAY ka na makipaglaro sa NPA gaya ng ginagawa ni
duterte o kaya lumaban ka ng hayagan na KAMATAYAN naman kahihinatnan mo.napakasakit
naman ang ginawang ito ng NPA, MAG-AMA pa,baka inuna pang patayin ang anak sa harapan
ng kanyang ama.sobrang sakit naman nyan...
1

Reply Share

D_BystandeR

9 hours ago

Tongues could be heard wagging wildly and most of the blame centered on the common
suspect, in a case where the victim was a former NPA, that he was summarily liquidated by his
former "comrades in arms." This has been depicted countless times like an old song to crop up
only in cases like this. But the government authorities did not give any result of their own
follow-up investigation, in case there was one made by them, and no report was made about
that Starex van used by men posing as NBI agents with the big letters "NBI" emblazoned in
their T-shirts and carrying M-4 rifles. The Starex van was reported found abandoned in the next
town. The series of killing of lumds in Surigao del Sur which earlier reports pointed to the
paramilitary units coddled by the military seemed to have died a natural death as there were no
more talk about those killings to pinpoint as the culprits. And we should bear in mind that it is
the unscrupulous businessmen engaged in mining who were believed behind this nasty series
of killings as those lumads who tried to put up a struggle against the insidious activities by
those who want to grab their ancestral lands were the ones killed and murdered. But BS
Aquino was not touched by these killing because he said only those who have criminal records
were killed. And this is an easy way to wash his hands from the involvement of the government
forces in those killings.
Reply Share

Philantos > D_BystandeR

8 hours ago

and how sure you're telling the truth.Are you one of them ..


dlagotka

Reply Share

10 hours ago

Joma is this execution part of your class struggle?


Or are you truly irrelevant to your phacking organization?
Up to now you still cannot accept opposition especially those who abandon your political
ideology.
When will you change? When will you become a human being? So you still dream to be Stalin
and Mao Tzu Dung.
1

Bololoy

Reply Share

10 hours ago

It would be interesting to hear a comment from Duterte who recently declared that he coddled,
fed and comforted the NPAs.
3

Reply Share

Julien_Boisfeuras

11 hours ago

Why is Colmenares , Satur, and other leftists running for public ovfffice not saying anything?
Not even a whimper of condemnation?
1

Reply Share

tiktik > Julien_Boisfeuras

11 hours ago

pls include ex-CHR aETA...

Reply Share

alberto rodriguez

11 hours ago

This is another IP brutally killed and a sitting local official, so where is now the group
Karapatan, the various church-based social action centers, the ecumenical movement for
justice and peace, the so called IP protector groups, human rights advocates, Bayan Muna and
the rest of the Makabayan bloc why so silent and where is your condemnation to these killings,
the call for justice and legislative inquiry?
How come when three lumads in Surigao del Sur where killed by their fellow lumads you cried
foul and blamed the military and the national government right away? Is it because those 3
earlier killed (may their souls rest in peace) are actually fronting for Mayor Otaza's alleged
killers?
2

NEGADO

Reply Share

11 hours ago

The NPAs have no place in civilized society. They dont want the Philippines to be peaceful and
prosper.. They should all go to China!

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10/21/2015

Agusan Sur mayor, son shot dead; NPA eyed | Inquirer News
2

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sacrebleau

12 hours ago

Mga friends ni Do Dirty: NPA


2

maxie101

Reply Share

13 hours ago

NPA,s...... the militant group of the Communist Party was the CULPRIT or GODFATHER of the
economic and political collapsed of the Philippines..... since it was started before Martial Law..
ST**** FILIPINOS adored them, loved them, like them including the AQUINO Families way back
NINOY AQUINOs subversion days....

Reply Share

Philantos > maxie101

8 hours ago

huh , wow can you prove that the Aquino family are involved .

Reply Share

maxie101 > Philantos

7 hours ago

trace back..... before Martial Law


Pakiko Sayo

Reply Share

15 hours ago

Dapat lahat ng mahuling NPA pinapatay agad at wag nang ikulong.

Reply Share

porkchop!!!

18 hours ago

NPA Salot talaga sa liputan


habang yun mga sundalo abala sa pag rescue sa mga nasa lanta ng bagyo
sila naman (NPA) abala naman sa pag kidnap at pag patay
CHR gising at yun mga maiingay sa kalye bakit tameme kayo.dati nyong kasamahan yan oh.
2

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