BONTOC, Mountain Province – The Leonardo Pacsi command of the New Peoples Army (NPA) underscored that the revolutionary movement under the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) will continue to advance the interest of the oppressed and exploited masses and will strive to establish a genuinely democratic people’s government.
In a statement, the command stated that whether in public office or not, ‘our fellow i-Montañosa must challenge the current unjust system and forward the struggle for people’s rights and welfare.
The NPA stated that the death of Salvador Liked ended his alleged land grabbing and blackmailing that victimized some of the people in the different parts of the province over the past several years.
The statement admitted that the command had been receiving from local residents reports of alleged land grabbing in the areas between Bauko and Sagada reportedly perpetrated by the anti-corruption advocate and his cohorts in the bureaucracy.
The NPA added that clans and families had allegedly fallen victims to his schemes and that he even reportedly donated to a public utility a parcel of land he had grabbed aside from attempting to privatize a communal water source to sell water to Bauko town.
Further, the statement claimed that Liked put up an anti-corruption stance as he delved into purportedly anomalous deals and practices but his sincerity towards combatting bureaucratic corruption and government ineptitude had been questionable, given that he chose to enter into alleged settlements and even resulted to blackmailing and anti-social activities, instead of pursuing the cases that he filed.
According to the NPA, he made use of his educational background, skills, and connections to further his own interest.
The command admitted that it reached out to Liked in 2018, warned him to stop his land grabbing schemes, and advised him to sincerely pursue the graft and corruption cases he filed to convict abusive officials in government.
However, the statement stipulated that he continued with his modus operandi even when he became a barangay kagawad and as a public official, he employed the same modus at the expense of the land and livelihood of peasants and as an Igorot, he had run counter to the progressive traditional values of ‘inayan,’ collectivism, and self-determination.
The command asserted that how the modus operandi thrives further attests to the inherent corruption, rottenness, and exploitation under the current semi-colonial and semi-feudal system.
Liked was shot to death by two still unidentified gunmen after going out of their residence to see the house that was undergoing construction nearby.
Probers are still facing a blank wall on the identity of the suspects and motive behind the brutal murder of the anti-corruption advocate.
The local police is now conducting a manhunt operation against the two gun-wielding suspects who reportedly fled on foot towards the mountains of Bauko and Tadian after successfully perpetrating the crime.
By Hent