John Philip D.

Bahan September 5, 2018

BSHM-2

Extrajudicial killings in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental has been in the news lately after
the ambush by the New People’s Army (NPA) on July 21,2017. One of the killing incident
occurred last April 2, 2018, when a Councilor of Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental was shot
dead in an ambush staged by two unidentified assailants along the national highway in that
northern City. What could be the reason behind this incidents and are they related?

The victim was identified by the police as the 60 years old Councilor Paulo Edison Dela Rita
Sr., he was driving a motorcycle around 7:30 a.m. when two armed men on board another
motorcycle fired at him in Sitio Looc, Barangay Poblacion, Guihulngan City. The victim
sustained multiple gunshot wounds on the body and was brought to a nearby hospital but
died along the way.

Councilor Dela Rita figured in a “controversial” ambush by New People’s Army (NPA) last
year, he was accused of being in cahoots with the communist NPA rebels and was
supposedly a “decoy” that led to the deaths of of six cops, including the police chief, and the
wounding of three others.

Senior Superintendent Edwin Portento, provincial police director, said the police have yet to
determine the motive of the killing and the identity of the suspects. He declined to comment
on whether Dela Rita’s death has something to do with the ambush-slay of the Guihulngan
police personnel last year. He added, police investigators are looking at other possible
motives, including politics.

Whatever the reason behind this violent crimes perpetrated by the NPA and “unidentified
assailants”, it must stop. Business establishments close early and people stay home, fearful
of going out. Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo has ordered the provincial police to act on
the “spate of killings in Guihulngan City” as they have “damaged the city’s economy.”