The Philippine Army’s 301st Infantry Brigade (301 IB) has outright denounced the killing of a barangay captain (village) chief from Tapaz town, Capiz province.
“We have lost a peace advocate. We have lost an ally,” said Brigadier General Marion Sison, 301st IB commander.
The army general is referring to the death of Julie Catamin, the 49-year-old barangay captain of Barangay Roosevelt in Tapaz town.
Catamin was driving a motorcycle and was going back to Tapaz from the boundary village of Calinog town, Iloilo province when the shooting incident occurred Sunday, February 28.
According to Sison, Catamin worked closely with the army in the campaign to end communist insurgency.
Sison noted that Catamin led village officials of Roosevelt in declaring persona non grata members of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing of the New People’s Army (NPA) last September 15, 2020.
Sison considered Catamin’s death as one of reasons to continue the campaign to end communist insurgency and bring peace.
“As fellow workers in the government, we vow to bring to justice,” Sison added.
However, there were also reports that the slain village chief was one of those who spoke publicly after a deadly police raid killed nine indigenous people last December 2020.