By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

3rd Infantry Division (3ID) commander, Major General Jon Aying, slammed the New People’s Army (NPA) after they claimed responsibility for last week’s killings of sugar planter Norberto Lumayno and his driver Danilo Braga.
In a message sent by Aying to members of the media, he branded the Roselyn Pelle Command of the NPA as “terrorists and bandits” and their actions only create more conflict.
“It is a victory from the perspective of a criminal, a bandit and a terrorist,” he said.
Aying also questioned what their motivations were, suggesting money could be a factor.
He further slammed the group’s actions as “barbaric” and no different from the killings of other innocent civilians over the past ten years in Negros.
“We cannot forget the Puso Massacre in La Castellana on January 28, 2013,” Aying said. “This is one of the compelling reasons why they are losing more and more support.”
The general added, justice will be served against the NPA group responsible for the killing.
On Monday, the Roselyn Pelle Command, part of the NPA’s Northern Negros Guerilla Front, claimed responsibility for the deaths of Lumayno and Braga, who were ambushed in Barangay Minapasok, Calatrava.
Roselyn Pelle Command spokesperson Cecil Estrella explained, Lumayno was found guilty in their revolutionary court over the killing of innocent farmers and illegally amassing properties in the towns of Calatrava, Toboso, and Don Salvador Benedicto./WDJ