Slain leader of Bicol anti-NPA group laid to rest

LEGAZPI CITY — The founder of the Kusog Kontra Komunista (KKK) in Bicol, who was shot dead by New People’s Army (NPA) rebels last April 4, was laid to rest here the other day.

Family members, friends and supporters of lawyer Ricardo Nepomuceno traveled some 45 kilometers from Oas town up to the Bicol Memorial Park in Barangay Bugtong here.

Members of the National Alliance for Democracy (NAD) also held an indignation rally in front of City Hall, denouncing the atrocities of the NPA.

Chito Herbolingo, NAD secretary general, who came here along with some members of the nationwide anti-communist organization, denounced the treacherous killing of Nepomuceno and two Army soldiers assigned as his driver and security escort.

"We will support the KKK in whatever way we can," said a former NPA political officer in Agusan del Sur, adding that the NAD now has two million card-bearing members nationwide.

The KKK has some 400 card-bearing members in the Bicol provinces of Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Albay and Sorsogon.

Lt. Col. Serafin Raymundo, of the Army’s 9th Infantry Division, also expressed support for the anti-communist movement.

"We admire his (Nepomuceno’s) courage in denouncing the abuses and atrocities of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its military arm, the NPA, in Bicol," he said.

Herbolingo said the communist insurgency in the countryside has exacerbated the poverty of the Filipino people.

"I want justice for the death of my brother. But how can we find justice here? Maybe, someday. I still believe in divine justice," said Eriberta Nepomuceno-Naviera, undersecretary of the Department of Science and Technology and a sister of the slain KKK leader.

Nepomuceno, along with his military driver and security escort, was shot dead in Barangay Iraya Sur in Oas, Albay.

Guerrillas on board a blue Hyundai van reportedly blocked the Nissan Sentra car they were riding in and peppered it with bullets. It was reportedly the NPA’s 26th attempt on Nepomuceno’s life since he founded the KKK.

The NPA’s Santos Binamera Command based in Albay owned up to the killing in a press statement a day after the incident.

Florante Orobia, the NPA command’s spokesman, said Nepomuceno was killed for conducting counter-revolutionary propaganda and for the killing of supporters of the communist movement in Albay.