BY CESAR JOLITO III
The New People’s Army (NPA) has claimed responsibility for the fatal shootings of two men in Victorias City, Negros Occidental, one of whom had previously been tagged by law enforcement authorities as an alleged communist rebel, even as police continue investigating the twin killings.
Killed were businessman Jerome Ceballos, 57, and Alex Cunanan, 59, whose bodies were found in separate locations in Barangay 11 (Gawahon) on the morning of July 10.
Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCPPO) director Col. Dennis Wenceslao said residents reported hearing successive gunshots at around 5:30 a.m. before Ceballos was found dead beside a motorcycle with a gunshot wound to the head.
About two kilometers away, authorities recovered the body of Cunanan, who sustained multiple gunshot wounds.
Police investigation showed that seven masked armed men allegedly forced Cunanan’s son to accompany them to a poultry farm where the victim was staying. Upon seeing the armed men, Cunanan reportedly tried to flee but was repeatedly shot.
Investigators are determining whether the two incidents are connected, as both occurred in the same barangay within a short period.
Ceballos was among five individuals arrested in April during the implementation of search warrants in Barangay Matab-ang, Talisay City. At the time, the Police Regional Office–Negros Island Region (PRO-NIR) alleged that the group had links to the New People’s Army and had figured in an encounter with the Army’s 79th Infantry Battalion in Toboso, Negros Occidental, before their arrest.
He was later released from police custody.
Police have yet to establish whether Ceballos’ previous arrest and alleged links to the communist movement were connected to his killing.
However, in a statement issued Sunday, July 12, Ka Cecil Estrella, spokesperson of the Roselyn Jean Pelle Command–Northern Negros Guerrilla Front, claimed that the rebel group’s Special Partisan Unit (SPARU) carried out separate operations against Ceballos and Cunanan in Sitio Singko, Barangay Gawahon.
The NPA claimed Ceballos was an intelligence asset of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) tasked to monitor communist activities in northern Negros. It also accused him of participating in the April 19, 2026 encounter in Toboso, which the group referred to as the “Toboso 19 massacre,” and of involvement in the alleged abduction and killing of two Communist Party cadres in 2024.
The rebel group also alleged that Cunanan, once a full-time member of the movement in the 1980s, later became an informant for government forces and assisted military operations in Victorias City and E.B. Magalona. It further accused him of working for private landowners and intimidating farmers involved in land disputes.
According to the NPA, the killings were carried out in compliance with what it described as “people’s court” decisions against individuals it accused of committing offenses against the revolutionary movement.
Police have not verified the NPA’s claims or allegations against the two victims.
Authorities have launched an investigation to determine the motive behind the killings and identify those responsible.
As of press time, government authorities had yet to issue an official response to the NPA’s statement claiming responsibility for the attacks./CCJ, WDJ