NPA denies hand in Ejercito slay try

ANGELES CITY - The New People's Army (NPA) officially denied yesterday any participation in last Tuesday's ambush of presidential son Joel "Jojo" Ejercito and Mayor Catalina Bagasina in Sasmuan town.

In a statement, the NPA's Josepino Corpuz Command said it never had a hand in the attempt to kill Ejercito or Bagasina, nor was it responsible for the rash of bombings in Metro Manila and in Mindanao.

"The military is too quick to point an accusing finger at the revolutionary movement as the perpetrator," said Jose Agtalon, the command's spokesman. "The NPA in Central Luzon finds no basis to include Ejercito and Bagasina in its list of targets."

Ejercito, Bagasina and their companions were cruising on the Pampanga River on several motorboats when they were ambushed by unidentified armed men last May 23. The two survived the attack but a male radio reporter was killed and four other in their group were wounded.

The military initially blamed the NPA for the ambush, but later pointed to the Rebolusyunaryong Hukbong Bayan (RHB), a breakaway group, as responsible.

Agtalon stressed that the RHB must never be identified as "the NPA." He described the group as a "band of NPA-expellees and renegades (who) have turned to criminal activities and recruited more undesirable elements to expand their ranks."

Agtalon said that the military should know this since RHB leaders Bartolome Quizon, alias Ka Redar, and one Billy Bulag have been known to have military "handlers."

"There is enough evidence of Quizon's association with the military. Bulag, on his part, has served as guide in at least three police and Army operations in Pampanga the past year," he said.

And Agtalon stressed that it shouldn't come as a surprise if the RHB was behind the ambush.

"This band of criminals are known for its gun-for-hire activities. They receive fat sums from politicians and criminal lords for such services. And they were engaged in extortion rackets, looting and robbery," he pointed out.

Bagasina had earlier said that the RHB may have been hired by her political opponents to kill her.

Bagasina officially became the town's mayor only recently when a local court upheld her electoral protest. But her fiercest rival, former mayor Fernando Baltazar, has issued statements denying that he hired the rebels to kill her.

Aside from denying any participation in the ambush, the NPA also clarified that the Hermogenes Dayrit who was killed in a clash with the police in San Luis town last April was never an RHB member.

"He was a revolutionary martyr," the NPA said. "To lump him with the criminal RHB gang is to negate his martyrdom," the rebel group said.

The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines which has been fighting a Maoist rebellion for the past 30 years.