CHR probes deaths of Nueva Ecija priest, 14 NPA rebels

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has launched investigations into the killing of activist priest Father Marcelito "Tito" Paez and those of 14 alleged members of the New People's Army (NPA) who figured in a clash with soldiers in Batangas.

"There was a priest in Nueva Ecija, Fr. Paez who was killed and...actually the commission sent immediately a fact-finding team and we're awaiting the report of that killing but he was killed in cold blood, it was an assassination and we raised the question, was he assassinated because of his activism? His work for justice? Is this going to be a pattern?," CHR chairperson Chito Gascon said in a press conference.

Paez, 72, a resident of Barangay Baloc, Santo Domingo town was killed by motorcycle-riding gunmen in Jaen, Nueva Ecija on Monday night.

Human rights group Karapatan said Paez was the former parish priest in Guimba and coordinator of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines in Central Luzon.

Paez also was said to have assisted in facilitating the release of political prisoner Rommel Tucay who was detained at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology facility in Cabanatuan.

CHR spokesperson Attorney Jacqueline De Guia, meanwhile, said that investigation is also ongoing for the deaths of at least 14 alleged NPA members in a clash in Nasugbu, Batangas.

"Patas po naming tinitingan kung yung rules of engagement ng military ay nasunod at gusto rin po naming i-highlight na hindi lang militar ang aming iniimbestigahan sa panahon ngayon pati po yung mga ambush ng NPA sa Mindanao for example kung saan may isang sanggol ang namatay," De Guia said.

"So parehong partido po ang tinitingnan namin sa panahon ng armadong tunggalian na ito," she added.

The encounter started in Barangay Kaylaway at around 8:30 p.m. after police spotted the rebels on board a jeepney and a closed van.

The Nasugbu Police said joint police and military teams were dispatched after receiving reports of armed men in the village.

It said that the rebels fired upon the troops, including members of the military’s 730th Combat Group, when they arrived in the area. —NB, GMA News