BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade said yesterday that they arrested another suspected member of the New People’s Army in Brgy. San Isidro, Toboso, Negros Occidental, who is facing a string of murder and frustrated murder charges.
Col. Michael Samson, 303rd IB acting commander, said that Roberto Pandacan, a member of the NPA Northern Negros Front, was arrested on Jan. 14 by the police and 79th Infantry Battalion soldiers, by virtue of the arrest warrants issued by San Carlos Regional Trial Court Judge Danilo Amisola, for murder and frustrated murder.
Pandacan, alias Berting, was linked to the ambush of civilians in Sitio Toril, Brgy. Salamanca, Toboso, on July 13, 2009, that left three civilians dead, including a 13-year-old minor, and injured three others.
Samson said Pandacan was also denied bail by Amisola, on the murder charges filed against him.
The arrest of Pandacan was made on the same day that policemen and 79IB soldiers apprehended Ruffa Baynosa, alias Ka Nexie, in Brgy. San Fernando, Talisay City, for similar charges.
Baynosa was reported to have returned to the house of Marilyn Dianton on Jan. 14, a day after a 2-month-old infant was left behind by a group of NPA rebels, who scampered to different directions, after they noticed soldiers approaching the house. “May justice be served to the victims and their families of the unfortunate incident in 2009,” Samson said.*
