Suspect in Masbate gov’s ambush named

By Ephraim Aguilar
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 12:44:00 01/12/2009
INQUIRER.net

LEGAZPI CITY--One of the suspected communist rebels behind the failed assassination attempt on Masbate Governor Elisa Kho Sunday has been identified, a police official said.

Chief Superintendent Paterno Bangui, Bicol police director, in a press conference Monday, identified one of the suspects as a certain Joel Atibago, a former Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) member.

Police said they were also checking on Ayabit Yanson of Gahit village, who prepared the food for the armed perpetrators.

The governor and one of her security aides were wounded in the ambush.

Kho and her convoy were traveling along the national road toward Masbate City when members of the New People's Army (NPA) detonated two improvised bombs in Barangay (village) Gahit in Cataingan town.

Kho and a bodyguard suffered cuts from glass shards that hit them from the shattered windshield of the vehicle.

Bangui also said that the National Democratic Front, through its Bicol spokesman Greg Bañares, owned up to the ambush in a press release aired on late night television news Sunday.

Bangui said Bañares’ statement pointed to the Jose Rapsing Command of the NPA based in Masbate province as the one behind the slay attempt. Bangui claimed that the NDF apologized to Kho for its "mistake" in its statement.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer tried to verify this with Bañares but he has not responded as of posting time.

The Khos are a well-known political family in the province. Kho replaced her husband, Representative Antonio Kho, as governor in 2007. Son Wilston is the youngest mayor of Cataingan town, having been elected at the age of 21.

The island has long been known for rough and often violent politics. Masbate was the only province placed under Commission on Elections control in the Bicol Region during the 2007 elections.

Masbate is one of the hotbeds of communist insurgency in the Bicol region, which will be the venue of joint Philippine and United States military exercises, called Balikatan (shoulder to shoulder), in April.