NPA claims responsibility for trader's slay

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – The New People’s Army (NPA) has claimed responsibility for the murder of a Filipino-Swedish businessman in Kidapawan City last Wednesday.

In an e-mailed statement, the NPA’s Medardo Arce Command, which operates at the boundary of Bukidnon, Davao del Sur and North Cotabato, said members of the NPA hit squad killed the 48-year-old Patrick Weneger for his hardline stance against the communist movement.

The group’s spokesman, Rigoberto Sanchez, claimed the victim was among the organizers of Bagani, a group of tribesmen helping the military fight NPAs in the hinterlands around Mt. Apo.

Sanchez alleged that Weneger was behind the murder of Italian priest Fausto Tentorio in Arakan, North Cotabato last Oct. 17.

Weneger was in a public market when two men riding a motorcycle pulled over near him, and shot him repeatedly.

One of the gunmen also took the handgun of Weneger before they fled toward a residential area in Kidapawan City.

Weneger’s family owns a large rubber tree plantation at the border of Makilala, North Cotabato and Kidapawan City. Weneger’s father Kurt, a migrant from Europe, put up the plantation in the early 1970s.