Family of slain Cagayan mayor seeks NBI help

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines   â€“ The family of slain Mayor Carlito Pentecostes Jr. of Gonzaga, Cagayan has sought the help of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to conduct a separate probe on his killing last Monday.

Pentecostes’ family made the request as police authorities are set to file murder, robbery and arson charges against more than 30 armed men who they said belong to the Henry Abraham Command of the New People’s Army’s (NPA).

Among those to be charged are two NPA leaders, David Soriano, alias Ka Colly, and Rolando Ibis, alias Ka Pearson, who reportedly led the attack, said Senior Superintendent Gregorio Lim, Cagayan police director.

“We are seeking the assistance of the NBI to conduct a separate investigation into our brother’s gruesome killing. They have the expertise to conduct such an investigation. We will make a formal request for their help,” said Pentecostes’ elder brother Edward. 

“However, this is not to disregard the investigation being conducted by the police. But the family thinks it is better if the NBI would also conduct its own inquiry,” he added.

The Pentecostes family earlier had expressed doubts that the insurgents were behind the killing, insisting that politics had something to do with it. 

“This is about politics. The armed men are mercenaries of politicians. We don’t believe that it was the NPA who killed our brother,” Edward said.

He also belied reports that his brother was killed because of his support for the provincial government-sanctioned black sand mining in Gonzaga town.

Pentecostes’ successor, newly installed Mayor Rene Salvanera, also debunked the mining issue as a motive behind his party mate’s killing, saying that extraction of black sand along the town’s coastlines has been stopped since last year.

The military itself also doubted if the NPA had a hand in the slay. Lt. Gen. Gregorio Catapang, chief of the Armed Forces’ Northern Luzon Command, said the manner by which the armed men staged the killing was not the usual approach of communist rebels.

Pentecostes, 60, was shot dead by two of eight armed men in camouflage who went near him as he was presiding over last Monday’s flag raising ceremony at the municipal hall grounds.