COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA) killed two farmers in North Cotabato’s Makilala town Sunday night for ignoring the rebel group’s demand of regular payment of “protection money,” police said yesterday.
The North Cotabato police said more than 50 NPAs surrounded the adjoining houses of siblings Marlon and Randy Sulutan in Barangay Cabilao, an interior district in Makilala, took the two and shot them one after another using M-14 and M-16 assault rifles.
Barangay Cabilao chairman Gideon Bugoi told investigators that the alleged rebels warned villagers they would come back and execute anyone who would refuse to pay taxes.
The Sulutans are members of a community defense group in the barangay.
Members of the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion are pursuing the NPAs, who also took the animals of farmers residing in the village.