PRO-6 to probe RPA-ABB's "extortion"

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Allegations of rampant extortion activities, particularly in Janiuay town of Iloilo, by the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB) would be investigated.

Chief Supt. Cipriano Querol, Jr., director of the Police Regional Office-6, said his command would look into the case and, if evidence warrants, pursue criminal charges against the guilty party.

Over the weekend, an elderly woman, Luz Sepanton, alleged that suspected RPA-ABB members forcibly took her five sacks of palay at BarangayTambal in Janiuay. She claimed that the three armed did it allegedly upon orders of a certain barangay councilman.

“What right do they have to tax me and just take what was mine?” Sepanton said in the dialect. "They’re even fat and rich. On my part, I could barely have a meal,” she said.

Sepanton identified two of the three men as a certain Gerom Bisonia and Onyok Cava, both alleged members of RPA-ABB under the faction of Demetrio Capilastique, alias Hugo.

For quite some time already, there have been reports about this sort of “taxation” imposed in Janiuay allegedly by the RPA-ABB.

A certain Elvira earlier reported to the police that, every harvest season, she was made to give 10 sacks of palay to the group. It was not clear however what were the actions taken by the local police on the incident but reports stated that some local policemen had been hesitant to fight the perpetrators.

As this developed, PRO-6 has also planned to deploy policemen, preferably from the public safety platoon, to patrol the area and to establish a temporary police detachment. - THE FREEMAN