ILOILO – New People’s Army (NPA) hit men from Negros Occidental have allegedly crossed to Iloilo province to kill policemen.
The Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) is verifying the allegation spread through text messages, according to Senior Superintendent Marlon Tayaba, director. The police is not leaving anything to chance, he stressed.
The text messages spread following the complaint of Guimbal, Iloilo police station’s Police Officer 3 Federico Macaya that he was mauled on Dec. 26, 2018 and that Cong. Oscar “Richard” Garin Jr. threatened have him killed by the NPA.
“Hindi naman na-specify na si Macaya ang papatayin kasi general ang text. Actually, walang threat sa kay Macaya,” said Tayaba.
He added: “Malay mo sinasakyan lang ng ilang grupo ang issue. That’s why i-validate natin nang mabuti.”
The Garins have already denied they have ties to the NPA. The Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) recently announced it would be conducting an investigation to ascertain if the Garin family was connected to the rebels.
Aside from Macaya’s allegation of a threat from Congressman Garin, unaccounted guns of the solon’s father, Mayor Oscar “Oca” Garin Sr. of Guimbal, also stirred the curiosity of the police.
But according to Iloilo vice governor Christine Garin, three of the eight firearms registered under the name of her father were not turned over to the police because these had been lost some two years ago yet.
“We have a police blotter to support this,” said the vice governor, debunking insinuations that the guns may have been in the possession of rebels.
On Dec. 28, 2018, on behalf of her father and brother, the vice governor surrendered to the Guimbal police station 14 firearms (five registered to Mayor Garin and nine registered to Congressman Garin).
The Garins gave up their guns after Philippine National Police’s Director General Oscar Albayalde revoked their permits following Macaya’s allegation./PN
