Calinog mayor wants add’l cops after NPA killing
Additional police personnel surely would boost in the maintenance of the peace and order situation in Calinog, Iloilo.
This, Calinog Mayor Alex Centena said, as he asked for deployment of additional cops in the area following the killing of the close-in bodyguard of his political opponent, Salvador “Badong” Divinagravia, Jr.
Centena said that 26 policemen is really not enough to cover the security requirement of Calinog.
“I hope I would be given additional personnel. We need around 50 cops,” he stated.
Centena also favored placing the town under the Commission on Elections (Comelec) control.
Just like Divinagravia, he claimed that he also received threats from persons identifying themselves as New People’s Army.
“Damo man text sa akon. Wala ko lang ginasabat,” he said adding that it could either come from his opponents or from NPA themselves.
Last Wednesday afternoon, suspected NPA members killed Lenie Leysa, close-in security personnel of Divinagracia, after they came from a caucus in Brgy. Igcalaga, Calinog, Iloilo.
Leysa, 52, of Brgy. Dungon-B, Jaro, Iloilo City, was peppered with bullets in front of Divinagracia.
On board a Nissan Terrano, the group was traversing Igcalaga to Calinog town when they were flagged down by eight armed men.
Aside from Leysa, Divinagracia was with Felipe Braña, driver Brgy. Captain Jimmy Quimba, and his two police escorts – SPO1 Avelino Chiva and PO3 Jesus Castillon.
For Divinagracia, the main reason for such act was his failure to pay the NPA’s extortion demand.
He claimed that the NPA in the area allegedly asked him for a permit-to-campaign (PTC) fee but he declined to give in.
But aside from politics, police investigators are looking into the possibility that Leysa was killed because of his other “offenses.”
“He apparently earned the ire of the rebels because of his previous records,” Calinog Police Station chief Insp. Aron Palomo said adding that the victim has previous cases of robbery.
He was reportedly tagged in a kidnap-for-ransom operation and was alleged to be a gun-for-hire.
Meanwhile, Leysa’s sister, Gelyn, said that hatred engulfed them over the killing of their brother who died without a fight.
“Maski ano pa hambalon nila, indi hired killer ang magulang namon,” she claimed.
Pacita, Leysa’s wife, believed that her husband could have been killed because of politics.
On the other hand, Centena said that it is very clear that politics had nothing to do with the killing citing that the area is rebel-influenced.
“Ano bi ang lagas ko na kay Leysa? Wala ko na gani kakita sang itsura niya. Ngalan niya man lang na report niya sa akon. Positive nga ang naghimo sina NPA,” he declared.
The victim left 5 children and Pacita who is 5 months pregnant.
Meanwhile, the NPA claimed responsibility for the killing of Leysa. Bombo Radyo Iloilo reported that Joery Guerrero, spokesperson of the Central Front Committee of the CPP-NPA, confirmed that they killed Leysa as a form of revolutionary sentence to the wrongful acts he committed.
The NPA spokesperson cited Leysa’s involvement in the abduction and killing of businesswoman Roberta “Obing” Cokin in Bacolod City in 1995 and the brutal killing of sheriff Johnny Tugado in Oton, Iloilo in 1997.
