BACOLOD City — The New People’s Army (NPA) has claimed responsibility for the fatal shootings of two men in Barangay Gawahon, Victorias City, Negros Occidental, on July 10, although police said the motive behind the killings remains under investigation.
The victims were identified as Jerome Seballos, a resident of Bacolod City, and 59-year-old Alex Cunanan of Victorias City.
According to the Victorias City Police Station, Seballos was found dead at around 8:20 a.m. beside a parked motorcycle in Sitio 5, Barangay Gawahon after residents reported hearing several gunshots at about 5:30 a.m. He sustained gunshot wounds to the head. Responding officers recovered two spent .45-caliber cartridge cases from the scene.
About 30 minutes later, police received another report of a fatal shooting in the same barangay.
Initial investigation showed that seven unidentified masked men allegedly seized Cunanan’s son and forced him to reveal his father’s whereabouts at a poultry farm. Upon seeing the armed men, Cunanan reportedly attempted to flee but was shot several times, killing him on the spot.
Police recovered two spent .45-caliber cartridge cases and 11 spent 5.56-mm cartridge cases from the second crime scene.
Authorities are conducting follow-up investigations to identify the suspects and determine whether the two shootings were connected.
In a statement issued on July 12, Ka Cecil Estrella, spokesperson of the Roselyn Jean Pelle Command–Northern Negros Guerrilla Front, said the rebel group’s Special Partisan Unit (SPARU) carried out separate operations against Seballos and Cunanan.
The NPA alleged that Seballos was an intelligence asset of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) tasked to monitor communist rebels in northern Negros. It also accused him of involvement in the April 19, 2026 encounter in Toboso, which the group referred to as the “Toboso 19 massacre,” and in the alleged abduction and killing of two Communist Party cadres in 2024.
The rebel group also claimed that Cunanan, who it said was once a full-time member of the movement in the 1980s, later became an informant who assisted government troops during military operations in Victorias City and E.B. Magalona. It further alleged that he worked for private landowners and intimidated farmers involved in land disputes.
The NPA said the killings were carried out as part of what it described as the enforcement of “people’s court” decisions against individuals it accused of committing offenses against the revolutionary movement.
Police have not confirmed the NPA’s claims, and the allegations against the two victims remain unverified.
As of press time, government authorities had yet to issue an official response to the rebel group’s statement./PN
