Posted on 06/23/2003 11:51:32 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
PANGASINAN -- Suspected communist guerillas killed the mayor of Tayug town in Pangasinan and an aide in a pre-dawn attack outside a cockpit Sunday, the military said.
Tayug Mayor Guerrero Zaragoza died instantly when armed men fired at him while he and his companions were about to leave an arena holding cockfights at 2:45 a.m., said policemen who responded to the crime alarm.
"There is a pit with barbed wire fence at the left side of the coliseum where the assassins took cover. The area is a field," said Senior Insp. Jess Panguid, member of the 3rd company of the Regional Mobile Group (RMG).
A brief gun battle ensued between the mayor's bodyguards and the men believed to be members of the communist New People's Army (NPA), leading to the casualties, the military said.
Intelligence reports said the mayor in the past had received threats from the NPA for alleged "crimes against the people." The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, waging a decades-long rebellion in the countryside.
Panguid said that when they arrived at the scene of the incident, they found the mayor sprawled on the ground, in a pool of his own blood, two feet away from the door of his car.
"Since there were many people wounded, we whisked the mayor and those injured to the hospital after ensuring there was no longer a threat from the gunmen," Panguid said.
Zaragoza, aside from a bullet wound to the head, also suffered from multiple gunshot wounds.
Of the eight persons wounded in the attack, one died 6:30 a.m. at an undisclosed hospital. He was identified as Wilfredo Hidalgo, a bodyguard of the mayor, who also suffered from multiple gunshot wounds.
The seven others injured were SPO2 Segundo Serioso, police security of Zaragoza, Municipal Council Secretary Leopoldo Serrano, Edwin Belen, Marlito Abiasa, Alberto Ponsaba, Alberto Queban and Remedios Murillo.
Tayug municipal chief of police, Chief Insp. Raymond Gilbert Lozano, said the mayor was going out of the coliseum as the cockfight derby was already over when the gunmen fired at him.
The mayor's car was near the door of the cockpit arena.
"Based on our initial investigation, the perpetrators are not ordinary hit men," Panguid said, adding that there could have been eight gunmen or more.
He said that based on the empty shells found at the site where the assassins positioned themselves, high-powered firearms, among them M16 rifles, were used. The mayor's security men also fired back.
He further said a woman told them she saw two tricycles full of men leave the area right after the incident.
Elements of the 107th Provincial Mobile Group headed by Chief Insp. Ricardo Revita met early Sunday to determine the possible exits of the gunmen and plan what actions to take.
"We will be having a hot pursuit operation and we are just waiting for further development," he said.
Lozano said both RMG and PMG operatives under Panguid and Revita split into two groups to pursue the assassins. They also coordinated with the 48th infantry battalion of the Army based in Balungao town.
Zaragoza had reportedly been receiving death threats from the NPA since 2001.
Police are ruling out politics as a motive behind the ambush.
Vice Mayor Carlos Trese Mapili, meanwhile, lamented the untimely death of the mayor, saying Zaragoza left behind several unfinished projects.
Mapili extended his condolences to the bereaved family of the mayor.
The ambush incident is a baptism of fire for Senior Supt. Mario Sandiego, newly installed police provincial director in Pangasinan. He assumed the post only last June 19.
During the stint of former police provincial director Senior Supt. Arturo Cacdac Jr., a judge of the Regional Trial Court in Tayug was also killed.
Armed men killed Judge Oscar Uson at the Asingan-Sta. Maria Bridge while he was on his way home to Urdaneta City. The ambush of Uson came days after Cacdac took over the provincial police office.
The Uson case is still unsolved up to now.
Mayor Conrado Rodrigo of the neighboring town of San Nicolas was also attacked by armed men last year but survived. He was hit at the left thigh, the bullet penetrating the other thigh.
New People's Army (NPA)
Terrorism Resources. New People's Army (NPA). From: Patterns of Global
Terrorism, 2000. United States Department of State, April 2001. ...
web.nps.navy.mil/~library/tgp/npa.htm - 5k - Jun 22, 2003 - Cached - Similar pages
New People's Army (NPA)
New People's Army (NPA). Description. ... Sources and Resources. Designation of New
People's Army as a Terrorist Organization, Federal Register, August 9, 2002; ...
www.fas.org/irp/world/para/npa.htm - 5k - Cached - Similar pages
Designation of New People's Army as a Terrorist Organization
... organization as foreign terrorist organizations: The Communist Party of the Philippines,
also known as the CPP, also known as the New People's Army, also known ...
www.fas.org/irp/news/2002/08/fr080902.html - 2k - Cached - Similar pages
[ More results from www.fas.org ]
New People's Army (NPA)
New People's Army (NPA). The following information is based on "Patterns
of Global Terrorism" - US State Dept. The guerrilla arm ...
www.ict.org.il/inter_ter/orgdet.cfm?orgid=27 - 6k - Cached - Similar pages
New People's Army Philippines/ NPA Philippines
... July 2000. NEW PEOPLE'S ARMY (NPA) -- Philippines. ... Articles concerning
CPP and NPA have appeared in 2000. New People's Army (NPA). ...
www.au.af.mil/au/aul/bibs/tergps/tgnew.htm - 14k - Cached - Similar pages
Yahoo! Directory Parties and Groups > New People's Army
Philippines > Parties and Groups > New People's Army Directory > Regional > Countries
> Philippines > Government > Politics > Parties > New People's Army, ...
dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/Philippines/Government/ Politics/Parties/New_People_s_Army/ - 6k - Cached - Similar pages
ATS-L Archives: New People's Army (NPA) Anniversary Statement
New People's Army (NPA) Anniversary Statement. Arm The Spirit (ats@locust.etext.org)
Tue, 1 Apr 1997 05:24:29 -0800: ... Message To The New People's Army. ...
burn.ucsd.edu/archives/ats-l/1997.Apr/0003.html - 45k - Cached - Similar pages
AUSTRALIA DECLARES NEW PEOPLE'S ARMY AND COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE ...
Press Release, US CONTINUE MILITARY OPERATIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES AS AUSTRALIA
DECLARES NEW PEOPLE'S ARMY AND COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE PHILIPPINES TERRORISTS. ...
www.filipino.com.au/features/austdec.htm - 36k - Cached - Similar pages
New People's Army, Bibliography
NEW PEOPLE'S ARMY (NPA) aka BAGONG HUKBONG BAYAN [Home] BOOKS, (DOCUMENTS, REPORTS,
ETC.) AZAMA, Rodney S. The Huks and the New People's Army: comparing two ...
users.skynet.be/terrorism/html/philippines_npa.htm - 7k - Cached - Similar pages
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.