CEBU, Philippines — A former priest and chief peace negotiator for Cebu Province for the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) was gunned down by an unidentified suspect in Pilar town in Camotes Islands, Cebu evening on Friday, May 28.
The fatality was identified as Rustico “Parking” Tan, 80.
He was in Camotes Islands while awaiting verdict of a murder case filed against him in Bacolod City in 2019. He has since been released on recognizance.
Republic Act 10389 defines recognizance as “a mode of securing the release of any person in custody or detention for the commission of an offense who is unable to post bail due to abject poverty.”
The law says the court can release the person in custody in recognizance “to the custody of a qualified member of the barangay, city or municipality where the accused resides.”
The last hearing of his case in Bacolod City was on May 27, 2021, the day before he was killed.
According to Staff Sergeant Florante Gurrea of the Pilar Police Station, Tan was resting at the balcony of his house in Purok Caimito, Barangay Upper Poblacion when the gunman appeared at past 8 p.m. and shot him several times, hitting him in the face and other parts of his body.
No one witnessed the incident, based on initial investigation.
Gurrea said investigation is ongoing to determine the cause of the killing, especially that Tan never had any record of any wrongdoing in Pilar.
The Freeman learned that Tan was arrested in 2017 in Barangay Pasil in the southern town of Santander by virtue of 14 warrants issued by the Regional Trial Court in Bohol for multiple murder, frustrated murder, and attempted murder.
He was cleared of the charges.
He was also accused of being a high-ranking member of the New People’s Army.
He served as chief peace negotiator for Cebu Province for the NDFP until 1987. — JMO (FREEMAN)