KIDAPAWAN CITY – Suspected communist rebels shot dead a tribal representative while tending his farm in a remote village in Cabanglasan, Bukidnon, Saturday, Army reports said.
Army 1Lt. Ken Cabigat, civil military operations (CMO) officer of the 8th Infantry Battalion, identified the slain farmer as Datu Sammy Diwangan, 45, mandatory Indigenous Peoples (IP) representative of Barangay Canangaan in Cabangsalan town.
Cabigat said the victim’s 9-year-old son John escaped from the attack.
The CMO reports said Diwangan and his son were busy working in a farm when at least four armed men, believed to be members of the New Peoples’ Army (NPA) under Front Guerilla Malayag, fired shots at them.
Diwangan died on the spot due to several gunshot wounds while his son was able to flee unscathed.
Cabigat said the killing of Diwangan was clear violation of the bilateral ceasefire which is set to end on January 7 this year.
Diwangan, according to Army reports, was a staunch supporter of the military’s campaign against the NPAs.
He has long been in the “kill list” of the communist rebel movement in Northern Mindanao, the reports added. (Malu Cadelina Manar)