By Nanette Guadalquiver
BACOLOD CITY – The body of slain New People’s Army (NPA) regional leader Hans Ponteras was turned over by troops of the Philippine Army’s 79th Infantry Battalion (IB) to his family in Barangay Banago in this city on Wednesday, four days after he was killed in a clash with soldiers in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental.
In a statement on Thursday, 79IB commander Lt. Col. Arnel Calaoagan said their action of returning the remains of Ponteras to his family shows their “continuing commitment to upholding humanitarian values in the conduct of duty.”
“Though fallen as our enemy, we will not abandon you as our fellow Filipino. Let us all learn from the horrors brought by war. We fervently hope that this serves as a clear example of what awaits you if you keep on fighting the government and the rule of law with baseless and false ideologies,” he added.
In an interview, 79IB civil-military operations officer 1Lt. Dan Carlo Samoza said the remains of Ponteras were received by his sister, and the Philippine Army is providing assistance for funeral arrangements and other expenses.
The 48-year-old insurgent served as the acting regional front secretary and finance officer of the Komiteng Rehiyon-Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor (KR-NCBS) Regional Taxation Implementing Group, according to the military.
In a report, the 79IB said that Ponteras was known among former NPA cadres as “the facilitator of various extortion and recruitment activities in the region and the author and signatory of extortion letters and death notes distributed under the codename of ‘Armando Magbanua’ of the Apolinario Gatmaitan Command of Negros Island.”
On March 9, 79IB troops also brought home the body of Ponteras’ comrade, Marissa Pobresa, 23, the KR-NCBS regional communications officer, to Barangay Tan-awan, Kabankalan City in southern Negros.
Both died in the encounter, which took place in Hacienda Paraiso, Barangay Caduha-an, involving about seven NPA rebels. (PNA)
