Witness to militant leader's slay reveals Bayan — HUMABOL ties

As the body of slain Bayan Muna Bohol chapter president Victor Olayvar will be laid to rest on Monday, a witness to his death revealed his intricate connection to the underground movement.

The driver who drove the motorcycle Olayvar was riding on the day of the killing said the victim had told him that they would go to a place to pick up firearms.

Joselito Ayag (not Julieto as earlier reported) signed an affidavit of the "unwitting connection" between Bayan, Hugpong sa mga Mag-uumang Bol-anon and the insurgents' shadow government.

Insisting that he was not coerced when he signed the affidavit before City Prosecutor Adriano Montes, Ayag said his clandestine trip that led to Olayvar's death on September 7 was to account for firearms allegedly entrusted to Bayan members for safekeeping.

Months ago, the military revealed that they have recovered high-powered firearms and ammunitions from the houses of the militant group members, the latest, a ranking militant leader.

Army spokesperson Lieutenant Allexson Domingo then said a rebel returnee led them to recover the high-powered firearms. He however refused to identify who among the group's leaders was implicated.

Ayag, in his affidavit, said Olayvar told him of the arrival of a .60 caliber machinegun smuggled to Bohol by a supporter.

"He further revealed that one of their purposes in going to Danao is to verify if the firearms kept by our movement there are still intact as he was informed that when a certain Nanay Adie, a member of the underground movement who surrendered to the military, she exposed the location of said firearms and some of them were confiscated by the military," the affidavit executed the day after the killing states.

Ayag's affidavit added that the firearms were entrusted to Tatay Pedoy, a local Humabol leader in San Carlos, Danao. Tatay Pedoy, or Alfredo Bingas, is the press relation officer of Nagkahiusang Mag-uuma sa San Carlos, a Humabol affiliate chapter in Danao.

Ayag said he decided to speak when he noticed he was being abandoned by the movement's leaders despite the fact that he made up stories just to break the connection between the killing and the underground movement.

However, Olayvar's colleagues in the militant movement constantly deny that the victim has involvement in the armed rebel movement.

On Monday, in time for Olayvar's burial, thousands of his immediate family members and relatives, colleagues in the progressive movement and friends from different government agencies and local government units will hold a protest march.

Panglao mayor Doloriech Dumuluan and other public officials are expected to attend the burial to pay their last respects to the victim. Last Thursday, people from all walks of life attended Olayvar's wake. - Wenna A. Berondo