NPA admits Kintanar slay
January 27, 2003 | 12:00am
Breaking his silence, communist guerrilla spokesman Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal admitted yesterday that a "special team" of the New People’s Army carried out the assassination of former NPA chieftain Romulo Kintanar last week.
In a statement carried on the Internet yesterday, Rosal said Kintanar was killed because of "numerous accountabilities to the revolutionary movement and the people."
"It was absolutely correct to put an end to Kintanar’s rotten, criminal, counter-revolutionary and bloody record," he said.
Rosal made the statement four days after Kintanar was gunned down by unidentified men in a Japanese restaurant at the Quezon City Memorial Circle.
Authorities had suspected an NPA hit squad was behind the killing of Kintanar.
Rosal said Kintanar was sentenced in 1993 by a "people’s court," which found him guilty of masterminding and propagating "gangster operations," stealing P30 million from the funds of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and conniving with the police and military in counter- insurgency operations.
He said Kintanar had a standing "warrant" for his arrest but the NPA failed several times to take him before their court to face the charges.
Rosal claimed Kintanar was able to evade the NPA by taking counter-measures to "avoid facing his criminal and counter-revolutionary accountabilities."
Rosal accused Kintanar of kidnapping Japanese businessman Noboyuki Wakaoji in 1986, which earned the former NPA chieftain and his cohorts a hefty sum of $10 million.
Another case was the abduction of Bombo-Radyo Philippines president Roger Florete in 1989 that earned Kintanar and his group P15 million, Rosal said.
Kintanar connived with his fellow NPA renegade Arturo Tabara in the kidnapping of Florete, Rosal added.
He said Kintanar and his gang masterminded several bank robberies. In one operation in 1991, an NPA rebel was killed by responding policemen.
Rosal also said Kintanar was involved in gun-for-hire activities, including the slaying of actress Nida Blanca in November 2001.
He said Philip Medel, one of the controversial suspects charged in the Blanca slaying, was a hired killer under the pay of Kintanar and his uncle, retired general Galileo Kintanar, former chief of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP).
Foremost of his crimes, Rosal stressed, was the failed assassination attempt on CPP founder Jose Ma. Sison in May 2000.
Kintanar allegedly laid out the plans and headed the group that was to carry out the assignment.
"The group organized by Kintanar actually went to the Netherlands (where Sison is in self-exile) to implement their plan but had to return because of difficulties they met and squabbles within the group," he said.
Rosal insisted the killing of Kintanar was for "criminal reasons."
"(It) is not for his ideological, political and organizational differences with the CPP leadership, not his leaving the party and the revolutionary movement. Kintanar’s gangsterism violated CPP policies and rules and was perpetrated without the CPP leadership’s knowledge and consent," Rosal said.
Sison, for his part, maintained he was not directly involved in the killing of Kintanar although he did not discount the possibility that Kintanar was slain by his former comrades in the NPA for supposedly "making himself (Kintanar) liable for punishment."
Kintanar was among four former communist leaders allegedly sentenced to death by an NPA "people’s court" after they broke away from the CPP faction headed by Sison.
Following the struggle within the CPP leadership in 1991. Kintanar found himself on the side of the "rejectionists and traitors," as branded by Sison.
The CPP-NPA expelled Kintanar in the early 1990s, when he was freed from prison. He later led a splinter faction in peace talks with the government, and since worked as security consultant for two government agencies.
President Arroyo confirmed Kintanar was working as a government intelligence agent at the time of his assassination.
The killing of Kintanar confirmed military intelligence reports indicating an NPA liquidation squad carried out the assassination.
Sources from the intelligence community disclosed the hit squad is composed of members of the newly formed National Partisan Command of the CPP-NPA.
The group was ordered formed by Sison who handpicked a certain Leo Velasco to head the band.
Velasco has now full control over several hit squads tasked to carry out the assassination. Each hit squad has at least 14 members, all highly trained in urban guerrilla warfare.
The only mission of the group is to assassinate former communist leaders, including Kintanar, who were tagged as "traitors" by Sison.
The supposed hit list has been expanded to include at least 20 high profile personalities as their next targets.
President Arroyo has ordered the police and military to launch a "no let-up" campaign against Kintanar’s killers.
Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Mrs. Arroyo also directed all law enforcement agencies to coordinate with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to gather evidence of terrorist and criminal acts of the CPP-NPA and bring it before the international community.
"The President also ordered the DFA to file charges against terrorist leaders trying to escape justice in foreign lands by cloaking themselves as revolutionary figures," Bunye said.
Bunye said the admission made by the NPA in the assassination of Kintanar virtually showed the communist guerrillas are living up to the terrorist tag.
"This clearly justifies the government’s policy of counter force against the CPP-NPA which has lost all legitimacy in its struggle. The President has ordered a no letup campaign against terrorist insurgents and criminals who will be given no quarter in this fight," Bunye said.
He said Mrs. Arroyo likewise directed the police and military to conduct intelligence saturation drives to flush out underground cells and expose front organizations giving political and material support to subversives.
"This conflict shall be settled by resorting to all the means within the democratic arsenal, including the use of legitimate force and principled negotiation under our Constitution," Bunye quoted Mrs. Arroyo as saying.
Despite the claim made by the NPA, Chief Superintendent Romeo Maganto, Task Force Kintanar chief, said the development would not affect their operation.
"Their admission won’t stop the operation of the task force. We would still go after the killers," Maganto said.
Maganto went on to challenge Rosal to surrender claiming what they did to Kintanar was a plain act of murder.
He said Rosal, in making the admission, could even be considered as the mastermind of the killing.
Maganto surmised Rosal made the statement from his rebel base somewhere on the outskirts of Lucena City, Quezon.
He said thousands of civilian volunteers have been organized to provide information on the presence of NPA hit squads.
At the Central Police District, in whose jurisdiction the midweek murder took place, Chief Inspector Rodolfo Jaraza of the intelligence division said they are "now closing in on the suspects."
"It is confirmed that the NPA has taken responsibility... We are now just trying to find out which bloc of the rebel group was hired to carry out the shooting," Jaraza said.
"At the very least, we already know who did this. And we will do everything we can to bring the killers to justice. Patience and time is what it takes," he said.
Mrs. Arroyo earlier directed law enforcement agencies to create a task force aimed in neutralizing urban guerrilla hit squads believed to be operating in Metro Manila.
In a directive to Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., the President named Maganto to head the task force and go after the killers of Kintanar.
Maganto said he was also tasked to hunt down the killers of militant labor leader Filemon "Popoy" Lagman who was gunned down inside the University of the Philippines (UP) campus in 2001.
Upon the request of the family of slain Young Officers Union spokesman Baron Cervantes, the family also sought the help of Maganto to go after principal suspect Rafael Cardeño.
The President said that despite Kintanar’s murder, the government would offer a draft peace deal with communists who want to turn their back on violence.
Mrs. Arroyo said she has approved a draft peace proposal to end one of Asia’s longest communist insurrection, but warned the offer is only for those who renounce violence.
Burdened by battle defeats, factionalism and loss of support, the guerrillas remained low-key in recent years while government troops focused on large scale assaults against Muslim extremist guerrillas in the south.
The communists intensified attacks after Washington placed them on the list of terrorist groups last August and started an international campaign to cut off their support.
Bunye and Government peace panel chairman Silvestre Bello III said the assassination of Kintanar has no bearing on the government efforts to continue peace talks with the communists.
Bunye said Malacañang was not surprised over the admission made by Rosal on the liquidation of Kintanar.
Bello, on the other hand, said the government peace panel was rather surprised with the approval of Mrs. Arroyo of the final draft peace agreement.
Bello said the peace agreement with the communist rebels is necessary to enable the government to achieve its goal of further economic development.
"We have to understand that unless there is peace in our country, we could hardly expect progress. So since the focal point of the President now is to improve our economy, peace and order is a big factor. The sooner for the peace talks to start, the better," he said.
Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, a former spokesman for the rebel movement, also agreed that the murder of Kintanar will not affect peace efforts of the government with the communists.
"(B)ecause of the fact that no less than President Arroyo endorsed the draft of the final agreement which the government is offering to the CPP-NPA. It shows Kintanar’s death has no bearing in the peace talks between the government and the CPP-NPA," he said. — With Nikko Dizon, Jose Rodel Clapano, Bong Fabe, Artemio Dumlao, Matthew Estabillo, AFP
In a statement carried on the Internet yesterday, Rosal said Kintanar was killed because of "numerous accountabilities to the revolutionary movement and the people."
"It was absolutely correct to put an end to Kintanar’s rotten, criminal, counter-revolutionary and bloody record," he said.
Rosal made the statement four days after Kintanar was gunned down by unidentified men in a Japanese restaurant at the Quezon City Memorial Circle.
Authorities had suspected an NPA hit squad was behind the killing of Kintanar.
Rosal said Kintanar was sentenced in 1993 by a "people’s court," which found him guilty of masterminding and propagating "gangster operations," stealing P30 million from the funds of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and conniving with the police and military in counter- insurgency operations.
He said Kintanar had a standing "warrant" for his arrest but the NPA failed several times to take him before their court to face the charges.
Rosal claimed Kintanar was able to evade the NPA by taking counter-measures to "avoid facing his criminal and counter-revolutionary accountabilities."
Rosal accused Kintanar of kidnapping Japanese businessman Noboyuki Wakaoji in 1986, which earned the former NPA chieftain and his cohorts a hefty sum of $10 million.
Another case was the abduction of Bombo-Radyo Philippines president Roger Florete in 1989 that earned Kintanar and his group P15 million, Rosal said.
Kintanar connived with his fellow NPA renegade Arturo Tabara in the kidnapping of Florete, Rosal added.
He said Kintanar and his gang masterminded several bank robberies. In one operation in 1991, an NPA rebel was killed by responding policemen.
Rosal also said Kintanar was involved in gun-for-hire activities, including the slaying of actress Nida Blanca in November 2001.
He said Philip Medel, one of the controversial suspects charged in the Blanca slaying, was a hired killer under the pay of Kintanar and his uncle, retired general Galileo Kintanar, former chief of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP).
Foremost of his crimes, Rosal stressed, was the failed assassination attempt on CPP founder Jose Ma. Sison in May 2000.
Kintanar allegedly laid out the plans and headed the group that was to carry out the assignment.
"The group organized by Kintanar actually went to the Netherlands (where Sison is in self-exile) to implement their plan but had to return because of difficulties they met and squabbles within the group," he said.
Rosal insisted the killing of Kintanar was for "criminal reasons."
"(It) is not for his ideological, political and organizational differences with the CPP leadership, not his leaving the party and the revolutionary movement. Kintanar’s gangsterism violated CPP policies and rules and was perpetrated without the CPP leadership’s knowledge and consent," Rosal said.
Sison, for his part, maintained he was not directly involved in the killing of Kintanar although he did not discount the possibility that Kintanar was slain by his former comrades in the NPA for supposedly "making himself (Kintanar) liable for punishment."
Kintanar was among four former communist leaders allegedly sentenced to death by an NPA "people’s court" after they broke away from the CPP faction headed by Sison.
Following the struggle within the CPP leadership in 1991. Kintanar found himself on the side of the "rejectionists and traitors," as branded by Sison.
The CPP-NPA expelled Kintanar in the early 1990s, when he was freed from prison. He later led a splinter faction in peace talks with the government, and since worked as security consultant for two government agencies.
President Arroyo confirmed Kintanar was working as a government intelligence agent at the time of his assassination.
Sources from the intelligence community disclosed the hit squad is composed of members of the newly formed National Partisan Command of the CPP-NPA.
The group was ordered formed by Sison who handpicked a certain Leo Velasco to head the band.
Velasco has now full control over several hit squads tasked to carry out the assassination. Each hit squad has at least 14 members, all highly trained in urban guerrilla warfare.
The only mission of the group is to assassinate former communist leaders, including Kintanar, who were tagged as "traitors" by Sison.
The supposed hit list has been expanded to include at least 20 high profile personalities as their next targets.
Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Mrs. Arroyo also directed all law enforcement agencies to coordinate with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to gather evidence of terrorist and criminal acts of the CPP-NPA and bring it before the international community.
"The President also ordered the DFA to file charges against terrorist leaders trying to escape justice in foreign lands by cloaking themselves as revolutionary figures," Bunye said.
Bunye said the admission made by the NPA in the assassination of Kintanar virtually showed the communist guerrillas are living up to the terrorist tag.
"This clearly justifies the government’s policy of counter force against the CPP-NPA which has lost all legitimacy in its struggle. The President has ordered a no letup campaign against terrorist insurgents and criminals who will be given no quarter in this fight," Bunye said.
He said Mrs. Arroyo likewise directed the police and military to conduct intelligence saturation drives to flush out underground cells and expose front organizations giving political and material support to subversives.
"This conflict shall be settled by resorting to all the means within the democratic arsenal, including the use of legitimate force and principled negotiation under our Constitution," Bunye quoted Mrs. Arroyo as saying.
Despite the claim made by the NPA, Chief Superintendent Romeo Maganto, Task Force Kintanar chief, said the development would not affect their operation.
"Their admission won’t stop the operation of the task force. We would still go after the killers," Maganto said.
Maganto went on to challenge Rosal to surrender claiming what they did to Kintanar was a plain act of murder.
He said Rosal, in making the admission, could even be considered as the mastermind of the killing.
Maganto surmised Rosal made the statement from his rebel base somewhere on the outskirts of Lucena City, Quezon.
He said thousands of civilian volunteers have been organized to provide information on the presence of NPA hit squads.
At the Central Police District, in whose jurisdiction the midweek murder took place, Chief Inspector Rodolfo Jaraza of the intelligence division said they are "now closing in on the suspects."
"It is confirmed that the NPA has taken responsibility... We are now just trying to find out which bloc of the rebel group was hired to carry out the shooting," Jaraza said.
"At the very least, we already know who did this. And we will do everything we can to bring the killers to justice. Patience and time is what it takes," he said.
Mrs. Arroyo earlier directed law enforcement agencies to create a task force aimed in neutralizing urban guerrilla hit squads believed to be operating in Metro Manila.
In a directive to Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., the President named Maganto to head the task force and go after the killers of Kintanar.
Maganto said he was also tasked to hunt down the killers of militant labor leader Filemon "Popoy" Lagman who was gunned down inside the University of the Philippines (UP) campus in 2001.
Upon the request of the family of slain Young Officers Union spokesman Baron Cervantes, the family also sought the help of Maganto to go after principal suspect Rafael Cardeño.
Mrs. Arroyo said she has approved a draft peace proposal to end one of Asia’s longest communist insurrection, but warned the offer is only for those who renounce violence.
Burdened by battle defeats, factionalism and loss of support, the guerrillas remained low-key in recent years while government troops focused on large scale assaults against Muslim extremist guerrillas in the south.
The communists intensified attacks after Washington placed them on the list of terrorist groups last August and started an international campaign to cut off their support.
Bunye and Government peace panel chairman Silvestre Bello III said the assassination of Kintanar has no bearing on the government efforts to continue peace talks with the communists.
Bunye said Malacañang was not surprised over the admission made by Rosal on the liquidation of Kintanar.
Bello, on the other hand, said the government peace panel was rather surprised with the approval of Mrs. Arroyo of the final draft peace agreement.
Bello said the peace agreement with the communist rebels is necessary to enable the government to achieve its goal of further economic development.
"We have to understand that unless there is peace in our country, we could hardly expect progress. So since the focal point of the President now is to improve our economy, peace and order is a big factor. The sooner for the peace talks to start, the better," he said.
Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, a former spokesman for the rebel movement, also agreed that the murder of Kintanar will not affect peace efforts of the government with the communists.
"(B)ecause of the fact that no less than President Arroyo endorsed the draft of the final agreement which the government is offering to the CPP-NPA. It shows Kintanar’s death has no bearing in the peace talks between the government and the CPP-NPA," he said. — With Nikko Dizon, Jose Rodel Clapano, Bong Fabe, Artemio Dumlao, Matthew Estabillo, AFP
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