Killings linked to an anti-communist death squad in Oriental is on the rise. Seven out of fifteen personalities from their hit list have been killed. The latest victim is a lay minister from Iglesia Filipiniana Independiente (IFI).

Report by Andres Mapa

A lay minister was shot dead in broad daylight by a riding-in-tandem in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental last May 4.

Briccio, “Tatay Sagor” Nuevo, Jr, a lay minister from the Guihulngan Parish of Iglesia Filipiniana Independiente (IFI), was sitting by a vulcanizing shop on Plaridel St at around 4 in the afternoon when two assailants on a motorbike shot him. According to his family, Nuevo had already felt he was being followed and surveilled days prior his death.

Nuevo was among the names on a hit list by an alleged anti-communist vigilante group called Kawsa “Guihulnganon Batok Komunista (KAGUBAK). Released in 2018, the fifteen names listed were accused of being supporters of the Communisty Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, New People’s Army (NPA).

Out of the fifteen names in the hit list, Nuevo is the seventh personality to have been extrajudicially killed.

December of last year, Guihulngan health officer Dr. Mary Rose Sancelan, along with her husband, was also shot dead by a riding-in-tandem. Dr. Sancelan was falsely accused of being “Ka JB Regalado,” who was then the spokesperson for the NPA’s Apolinario Gatmaitan Command.

Other personalities extrajudicially killed that were also in the hit list are lawyer Anthony Trinidad, Heidi Malalay Flores, Roberto Caday, Boy Litong and his son. Until now, their cases remain unsolved.

Rev. Rhee Timbang, IFI supreme bishop, said that the “malicious” red-tagging was what led to the death of Nuevo.

“We demand the Duterte government and his minions to stop this senseless practice of Red-tagging and to resort to legal procedures if indeed there are competent and admissible pieces of evidence against the persons who were unduly accused,” he said.

In a statement, Karapatan Central Visayas also decried the state-backed killings and urged the citizens to hold the government accountable for this culture of violence.

“As long as the conditions on the ground persist, people will always continue to rise up,” the rights group said.

Last August of 2019, Sens. Ronald Dela Rosa and Risa Hontiveros called for a police probe into the anti-communist vigilante group. Then PNP Chief Oscar Abaylde promised to launch an investigation on the strings of killings in Negros Oriental and to account for the other ten on the list who were still alive.

Since then, the killings have persisted and two more from the list have died.

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