Abra NPA rebs execute militia man for ‘crimes’

MALIBCONG, Abra – A Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit element, wanted by the New People’s Army for “heinous crimes against the people” was “arrested” on Oct. 30 and executed by members of the rebel group at Malibcong District, along the Abra-Kalinga Road.

Raul “Eeng” Labawan, CAFGU regular, was disguised as a passenger jeep conductor while performing intelligence work for the 41st IB, when an NPA unit chanced upon him around 4:30 p.m. that day, said Ka Diego Wadagan, spokesman of the NPA’s Agustin Begnalen Command based in the province.

Wadagan said upon verification of his identity, Labawan was immediately arrested on the basis of a “standing order” of the Provisional Revolutionary Government. A Cal.45 pistol was captured from him.

“Labawan was found guilty in 1996 of multiple crimes punishable by death under the laws of the provisional revolutionary government,” Wagadan said. “His subsequent active counter-revolutionary activities further strengthened the decision to mete out capital punishment on him. Labawan’s alleged crimes:
1. Participation in the inhumane act of planting a grenade in the rice granary of Pilo and Leona Sabadao, then pregnant, in Sitio Sap-al, Buneg, Lacub. The grenade blast killed the couple and the unborn child.
2. As a CAFGU, he led a unit of the Philippine Army in a precision attack against the NPA in 1993, that resulted to the death of Ka Dam-at at Sitio Talipugo, Buneg, Lacub. He continuously guided fascist operating troops against the NPA, including the March-April 2007 joint 41st IN-PNP-RMG operations in Lacub.
3. One of the three ringleaders of the dreaded “bonette gang” that is sowing terror among the people of Lacub and Malibcong, and directly responsible for the deaths of Palayen Sabado and of Renato Dulosan in 2006.
4. Served as a spotter “ala-Makapili” for the Philippine Army, along the Abra-Kalinga Road and continuously harassed activists and ordinary people from Malibcong, Tineg, Lacub and Baay-Licuan.
5. Participated in intelligence operations against units of the NPA in Northern Abra.

“Upon final verification of the details of the standing order and his current intelligence functions, the Agustin Begnalen Command affirmed the order and Labawan was subsequently executed. His body was turned over to local barangay officials, elders, and relatives,” Wadagan said. “Labawan eluded arrest by the revolutionary movement in the past by blindly submitting himself to total control and manipulation by the 77th IB and the 41st IB.”