[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’Sugarcane planter killed in Negros ‘ambush’’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MAE SINGUAY and CYRUS GARDE
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
Friday, June 23, 2017
[/av_textblock]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
BACOLOD City – A sugarcane planter and his driver were shot to death yesterday in Purok Greenhills, Barangay Minapasuk, Calatrava, Negros Occidental.
Items that responding government troops recovered suggested that New People’s Army (NPA) rebels perpetrated the attack. Police were also looking into land dispute.
Around 15 unidentified armed persons staged what the police called an “ambush” that killed the 67-year-old sugar planter Norberto Lumayno and his 45-year-old driver Danilo Braga around 7 a.m.
On board the pickup Isuzu D-Max (plate number AKK 7562) driven by Braga, Lumayno had just arrived to inspect his plantation when fired at, said Chief Inspector John Joel Batusbatusan, Calatrava police station head.
The attackers may have hid in the sugarcane field for at least two days and waited for the victims, Batusbatusan said, citing the canned goods and other foodstuff the police found at the plantation.
Empty shells of M16, M14 and AK-47 assault rifles and an M203 grenade launcher ammunition were found at the crime scene, police said.
Police said the suspects fled toward Barangay Minautok.
Philippine Army’s 62nd Infantry Battalion troops then staged a “strike operation” that led them to Barangay Cambayobo, where they clashed with some 10 armed men around 10:30 a.m., 3rd Infantry Division commander Major General Jon Aying said in a text message.
No one was reported killed or injured in the firefight that lasted 15 minutes, the military said.
Soldiers found at the encounter site a .45-caliber pistol, a hand grenade, two NPA flags, subversive documents, a portable gas stove, medical accessories, and personal belongings, said the military.
A land dispute dating back to the ’90s may have triggered the attack, according to Lumayno’s brother Rodolfo and brother-in-law Raul Baterna. Both said they have been advising Lumayno to be careful.
Several people wanted Lumayno ousted from his farm, Baterna said.
Lumayno was involved in a case that has been pending with the Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board for almost a decade already, Baterna added.
Investigation into the attack continues./PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
