‘Slain NPAs targeted Duterte, other officials’

MANILA, Philippines — The three men killed in an encounter with police operatives in Quezon City earlier this week were part of the team directed by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) to assassinate high-ranking government officials, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said yesterday.

Año claimed Eleuterio Agmaliw, Fredde Daileg and Lucio Carbonel were part of the special team deployed by the CPP-New People’s Army (NPA) to kill officials in their supposed hit list.

“These NPA leaders are part of the special teams directed by the CPP leadership to assassinate senior government officials that include the President. But we got to them first and we will not stop until every one of them is arrested and brought before the bar of justice,” Año said in a statement. 

The three were killed in a shootout last Friday with policemen who were about to arrest them on charges of destructive arson, murder, frustrated murder and rebellion.

Officials said Agmaliw and Daileg were high-ranking NPA leaders.

Carbonel, on the other hand, was supposedly a liaison of the NPA in Manila and the owner of the safe house in Barangay Damong Maliit, Novaliches, Quezon City.

Lawmen recovered an M-16 rifle, a .38 revolver, a .45 pistol and an MK2 hand grenade.

Three other people who were in the
safehouse were also arrested to face charges of obstruction of justice and harboring wanted persons.

Año warned communist rebels have no place to hide.

“As I promised, we will get you first even before you get near us. There is no safe place for you in Metro Manila and in any urban center around the country. If I were you, I better give up before it’s too late,” he said.

Earlier this month, the military revealed a communist plot to assassinate Cabinet officials who are spearheading President Duterte’s counterinsurgency program.

The hit list includes Año, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) chairman Allen Capuyan, a former military intelligence officer.

Officials said President Duterte is on the top of the communist hit list, prompting the Presidential Security Group (PSG) to intensify its security for the Chief Executive.

The NPA reportedly threatened to assassinate Duterte to mark its 50th anniversary on Dec. 26.

Apart from the communist rebels, drug lords and criminal syndicates have also placed the Chief Executive on their hit list, according to PSG commander Brig. Gen. Jose Ariel Niembra.

Sen. Christopher Go denounced the death threats against Duterte by the NPA, saying the rebels should prove their sincerity if they want to resume the peace talks with the government.  

He said the threats will only imperil the proposed resumption of peace talks.

“If they wanted to talk peace with the President, then let him live. He is sincere and committed to talk peace with you,” Go appealed to the rebels. – Cecille Suerte Felipe