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THE
police task force investigating cases of unexplained
killings is now hunting down the suspect in the killing
of a Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s
Army (CPP-NPA) supporter in Western Samar.
Director
Jefferson Soriano, Task Force Usig commander, said that
a warrant of arrest has already been issued by the
Regional Trial Court in Western Samar against the
alleged killers of Norberto Cabigayan, who was
identified as a CPP-NPA supporter and collector of
“revolutionary taxes” for the communist underground.
A
warrant of arrest has been issued by Presiding Judge
Yolanda Dagandan against Romeo Paday for the killing of
Cabigayan.
In the
killing of Norman Bocar, a lawyer and Bayan Muna
regional coordinator for Eastern Samar, a case for
murder was already filed before the Regional Trial Court
in Borongan City against suspects Elejandro Aragon Jr.
and one still unidentified person.
Task
Force Usig has fanned out to various investigating
agencies 55 unsolved cases of unexplained killings as
part of its efforts to speed up the resolution of these
cases involving the killings of political activists and
journalists.
Soriano
said that of the 55 unsolved cases, 50 involved the
killings of political activists while five involved the
killing of media practitioners.
Soriano
said as of March this year, Task Force Usig has referred
four of these unsolved cases to the National Bureau of
Investigation and eight to the National Police Criminal
Investigation and Detection Group.
Referring to the Usig report, Assistant Secretary for
the Interior Danilo Valero said 39 unsolved killings of
political activists and four involving mediamen are
under investigation by the Regional Investigation and
Detective Management.
Soriano,
who heads both Task Force Usig and the National Police
Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management,
said the task force has acted decisively on more than
half of 141 verified incidents of unexplained killings.
Of the
total number of 141 cases verified, 113 involved
killings of political activists and 28 work-related
killings of journalists, Soriano bared.
As of
March this year, out of the 113 cases involving
political activists, 60 (53 percent) were filed, four
(3.5 percent) are under investigation, 48 (42.5 percent)
are considered cold cases as there had been no
development or progress on the investigation for more
than a year, and one case (1 percent) was dropped and
closed.
Of the
60 cases, he said that 35 were filed in court, in which
one case was settled amicably, 27 are on trial and seven
were dismissed. A total of 12 cases are pending at the
prosecutor’s office and 13 were provisionally dismissed
On the
killing of media practitioners, out of the 28
work-related cases, 23 were filed in court; four were
considered cold cases as there had been no development
or progress in the investigation for more than a year
and one remains under investigation, Soriano added.
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