Cagayan PNP hunts 30 NPAs in gun-slay of former comrade

By Liezle Basa Inigo

GONZAGA, Cagayan -- The provincial police headquarters here are now conducting manhunt operations for 30 members of the New People’s Army (NPA) reportedly involved in the brutal killing of a former comrade last Oct. 28 inside his residence here in Barangay in Isca.
    Police identified the victim as Freddie Pahicniyon, 34, a farmer and native of Banaue, Ifugao.
    Gonzaga Police said prior to the incident, the victim together with his younger brother John Paul Pahicniyon and brother-in-law     Erwin Daranciang, were asleep inside the victim’s family house when the suspects arrived.
    This awakened the victim, who opened the door, only to be fired upon by two of the suspects.
    That initial volley of gunfire killed him instantly.
    Around 10 fully armed men then barged into the house and took the victim’s bag and cellular phone.
    The suspects fired their firearms in the air and fled going in an unknown direction.
    Probers also revealed there were around 20 fully armed men waiting outside the residence.
    These fully armed men were allegedly members of the NPA, who may have resented Pahicniyon’s decision to return to the fold of the law.
    Cagayan Police Director Col. Ariel Quilang immediately directed nearby units from the First and Second Cagayan Provincial Mobile Forces Company and police stations to conduct pursuit operations with the Marine Battalion 10 to apprehend the suspects.