Eleazar hits CPP-NPA for not turning over men behind Absalons’ slay
PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) chief General Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar on Friday slammed the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed unit, the New People’s Army (NPA), for ignoring calls to surrender their members who killed cousins Kieth and Nolven Absalon.
“What can we expect from these rebels who are just pretending to be remorseful over their terrorist attack that killed Kieth and Nolven?” Eleazar said even as security troops pressed their hunt for the rebels who were behind the murder of Kieth, a national and FEU football player, and his cousin Nolven and the wounding of the latter’s son in Masbate City last Sunday.
“They have never been sincere in the first place, and we have expected this from them. The CPP/NPA will not listen to reason, stuck in their crooked and twisted way of thinking,” he added.
The PNP chief also said the CPP-NPA did not even bother to sanction its own men for the death of two civilians. He explained that the inaction of the group would embolden its men to continue with the terror activities at the expense of the civilians.
“Ang lalakas ng loob nilang pumuna sa pamahalaan at ginagamit pa nila itong instrumento para linlangin ang taumbayan pero ang sarili nilang tauhan bini-baby kapag nakapatay ng mga inosenteng sibilyan. Ito ay patunay kung anong klaseng ideolohiya meron ang mga grupong ito,” said Eleazar.
Amid the insincerity of the communist rebels’ remorse over the death of the Absalon cousins, Eleazar promised the victims’ family that the police and military will give them justice for Kieth’s and Nolven’s senseless killing.
“I assure the Absalon family that the joint forces of the police and the military will not stop pursuing the perpetrators of this senseless killing and bring them to justice,” said the top cop.
“Tutulungan po namin sila makakuha ng hustisya para sa kanilang mga mahal sa buhay dahil ang pamahalaang ito ay naniniwala na ito ay makakamit lamang kung maihaharap sa korte at mahahatulan ang mga salarin sa krimen at hindi sa simpleng pagso-sorry,” he said.
“No less than the arrest and conviction by a court of law of the perpetrators behind this violent and dastardly act can make up for the death of the two innocent men,” the PNP chief stressed.
Since last Sunday, continuous police and military operations against NPA rebels in Masbate have already resulted in the killing of three armed guerrillas and the recovery of over a dozen automatic rifles, IEDs and dozens of live ammunition abandoned by the fleeing gunmen a few distance away from where they killed the Absalons, said Police Regional Office 5 director, Brigadier Gen. Jonnel C. Estomo.
