NPA executes ex-leader for betrayal

BONTOC, Mountain Province, Philippines – The New People’s Army (NPA) has executed an alleged former leader for reportedly betraying the rebel group.

Salaknib Monteverde, spokesman for the rebel group operating in Benguet, Abra, Mountain Province and Ilocos Sur, said Rufino Dumayas caused the arrest and torture of several villagers by the military.

Dumayas, who used the alias “Ka Ram” when he was still with the rebel group, was executed based on a decision of the NPA’s “peoples court” in Besao, Mountain Province on Jan. 10.

He was reportedly a former leader of the NPA’s Leonardo Pacsi Command operating in Mountain Province.

Monteverde said when Dumayas was arrested in 1989, the former rebel leader disclosed to the military the identities of several NPA members.

“Dumayas’ disclosure resulted in the arrest of several members of the revolutionary movement in Besao and Sagada,” he said. 

The NPA’s people’s court investigated the arrests of their comrades and decided to impose a death sentence on Dumayas.

A unit of the rebel movement caught Dumayas but he was able to escape and hide.

“Twenty-five years later, Dumayas returned home to Barangay Tamboan in Besao town and was executed by the rebels,” Monteverde said.