By Mortz C. Ortigoza
“The attack exposes the extent of desperation, depravity and thirst for violence of the people who masterminded it as they showed an absolute absence of regard for the lives of the five civilians who were among the fatalities – making it all the more appalling and unforgivable,” the Vice President added to the above statement in a media release.
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| ELITE OF THE ELITES. According to the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) - Degamo - the police special unit sleuthing on the murder of Negros Governor Roel Degamo -, Sgt. Joven C. Javier as shown on the photo above went absent without leave (AWOL) in the military on 2018. A photo, however, on his social media account posted on November 25, 2020, showed him posing in full battle gear and wearing the distinctive battle dress uniform (BDU) of the premier anti-terrorist American military initiated Light Reaction Regiment (LRR). Photo Credit: Philippine Defense Forum |
At 9:30 a.m. of March 4 (Saturday) Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo, his
three staff and five civilian recipients of the government financial subsidy to
the poor called 4Ps perished to the volume of assault rifles fire from six of
the ten assassins clad in military uniform. 16 were wounded including three provincial high
officials. The killers, as video footage showed in the social media, moved with
military - like precision before they entered the lackadaisically guarded gate
of the Guv in Brgy. San Isidro, Pamplona where the led man briefly talked with
the watchman while he looked for the Degamo. He then shot with his M4 (Carbine)
5.56 mm caliber (the one used by U.S Special Forces) the guard who immediately
fell down and hell broke loose as the other armed men simultaneously fired
automatically their M4 lethal weapons in the various corners of the governor’s
residence. The lead man was seen returning to Degamo who was lying on the
ground and pumped another bullet for the coup
d’ grace. He was hit on the right side of the body and in his heart.
***
Degamo–a four-term Guv since 2011 after he succeeded the governor who
died – and governorship candidate Pryde
Henry Alipit Teves had an acrimonious controversial election
result dispute when Degamo lost to Teves in the May 2022 election because some
of his votes were counted in favor of a nuisance candidate’s Ruel Degamo (real name: Grego Gaudia). After Degamo questioned it to the
Commission on Election, the Comelec invalidated the 49,953 votes of Gaudia and added it to Degamo who
eclipsed Teves by more than 30,000 votes. After four months sitting as governor,
Teves stepped down and Degamo assumed the Capitol after the Comelec declared
the petition of Degamo as final and executory in October 3, 2022. Teves,
however, questioned through quo warranto petition the decision of the election body to the final
arbiter the Supreme Court. The High Tribunal upheld last February 14 with
finality the decision of the Comelec. Degamo would be governor until June 31,
2025.
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Teves, a former mayor and ex- solon who was a survivor of the Batasang
Pambansa 2007 bombing, was the brother of Negros Oriental Congressman Arnolfo Teves Jr. Arnolfo or Arnie whose son Bayawan City
Barangay Chairman Kurt Matthew Teves landed in the national news in March 2022 when
he – surrounded by his bodyguards – punched and kicked Security Guard Jomar Pajares of BF Federation of Homeowners'
Associations in Las Piñas when he barred him to enter the homeowners’ gate because his car had no
sticker.
In a call by television and social media program’s Bitag Host Ben Tulfo to get his son’s side, Congressman Teves and
the broadcaster quarreled where the solon even challenged Tulfo for a boxing
match.
“Suplahin mo ako murahin mo ako pero huwag kang magkamali. Wala ka sa Negros wala kaming pakialam kung sinong Talpulano ang mga goons mo roon. Wala kaming pakialam…,” Tulfo dissed on the athletic looking but bald Teves who he said had goons.
***
The broad daylight cold blooded assassination of Degamo was a slap on the
face of Philippine National Police Chief Director Rodolfo Azurin, Jr. when he
promised four days before the dastardly act that he would stop the impunity of
the killings of politicians in the Philippines.
In February 27 Speaker Martin
Romualdez met with DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos and Azurin after Lanao del Sur
Governor Mamintal Alonto Adiong Jr. was wounded in an ambush last February 17.
Two days after the attempt to the life of Adiong, Aparri, Cagayan Vice
Mayor Rommel Alameda and five of his companions—John Duane Alameda, Abraham
Ramos Jr., Ismael Nanay, Alexander delos Angeles and Alvin Abel—were killed in
an assassination in Bagabag town, Nueva Vizcaya province.
It was followed by the ambush of Mayor Ohto Montawal of Datu Montawal town,
Maguindanao del Sur province, who was wounded after motorcycle-riding suspects
shot his van in Pasay City on the evening of Feb. 22.
***
Negros Oriental slain Governor Roel Degamo
We hope that the arrest at 4:20 p.m. in the same day of the murder of Degamo of three of the suspects’ former Army soldiers Joric Labrador, 50, of Lanuso, Cagayan de Oro; Joben Aber, 42, of Barangay Robles, La Castellana, Negros Occidental and Benjie Rodriguez, 45, of Bonifacio, Misamis Occidental in Bayawan (where Pryde Teves was mayor from 2016 to 2022 and a two-hour vehicle ride from Pamplona) and one who was killed in the hot pursuit by the cops and the army on the same day that Governor Degamo was assassinated were not the fall guys.
A fourth suspect Osmund Rivero was nabbed by authorities in March 5. He was a former government soldier from Zamboanga City who later became a taxi driver.
According to a post in the Philippine Defense Forum aside from the
suspects abandoned get away vehicles’ Mitsubishi
Pajero with plate number NQZ 735, a green Isuzu pickup with plate number GRY
162, and one black Mitsubishi Montero with plate number YAP 163, recovered from them were Five M4 Carbine 5.56mm assault
rifles, accessorized one B-40 rocket-propelled
grenade (RPG) launcher
with 5 ammo, four chest rigs with ballistic plates, fully loaded, three pairs
of combat boots, two battle uniforms and one tactical shirt.
302nd Brigade Commander Brig. Gen. Leonardo Peña said three of the suspects were former soldiers while one
of them was a former member of the elite Scout Ranger.
A photo at the social media of the cashiered Scout Ranger
Sergeant Joven Calibjo Javier showed he was also a member of the American
military founded, supplied and trained Army top-tier
counter-terrorist unit’s Light Reaction Regiment (LRR). I read
about this LRR because of the 500 pages’ book Tiradores given to me by Australian based pilot pal Denmark Suede.
This is the elite-of-the elites gee whiz of the Philippine military and just like the
elite secretive Special Air Service (SAS) of the British, their operations were
not toasted in the mass media and their faces were covered if not pixilized whenever the
government published their feats.
The investigation of this case is interesting as Degamo was the political
ally of the recently livid President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr when he ran for the
presidency last year.
Can Marcos do a Ramon Magsasay in Negros?
Moises Padilla, according to history book, was a public figure who was tortured and killed in 1951 for political reasons in Magallon (presently Moises Padilla town) Negros Occidental by assassins of former Governor Rafael Lacson in Negros Island. Padilla was declared a martyr by the late Defense Secretary Ramon Magsaysay who was catapulted to be a popular President of the Republic – thanks to the Padilla abominable killing as one of the reasons why he won the hearts of the masa - during the early 1950s. It was believed that Moises Padilla was an ardent supporter of Magsaysay in every political arena after World War-II.
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| Two of the three arrested suspects who were cashiered from the military.Photo Credit: Philippine Defense Forum |
READ MY OTHER BLOG:
The Lethal, Costly Weapons of a Cobra
MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA
I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials's idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.
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