How the CPP-NPA is decimating its own

By Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr./ The Manila Times

IT has been 32 days since the fatal murder of Kieth and Nolven Absalon in Masbate City. The more I dig deeper into the circumstances of that incident, the more I come to understand the brutality of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) and how they have been lying in order to support their propaganda.

After the landmine attack in Masbate - which killed Kieth and Nolven as well as wounded the latter's son, Daniel - the CPP-NPA admitted to the atrocity and apologized to the family, saying that the killing of Kieth was a case of mistaken identity. I have promised the Absalon family that we will relentlessly pursue this case, so I did my own personal inquiry into the matter.

One of the shocking revelations I got direct from the sources and witnesses was that Kieth and Nolven were not killed mistakenly. In fact, two NPA spotters in a motorcycle overtook the pack of mountain bikers and stopped in front of the lead pack (i.e., Nolven and company) and pointed at the two to identify the riders as the targets. Shortly after, the two in motorcycles sped off and as the bikers continued with their activity, NPA terrorists from the bushes suddenly shot at them with assault rifles.

Nolven and Kieth fell off the motorcycle but were not fatally hit. Nolven then told Daniel to run to safety and as he himself ran to the nearby hill, the NPA terrorists tried to stop him by sniping him, causing several gunshot injuries. Fortunately, he was quick enough to run to safety.

Meantime, the NPA started to approach the fallen duo as the rest of the bikers dropped to the roadside to hide and seek cover. The rest of Nolven's party was able to witness what was going on while concealing themselves in the bushes. Kieth and Nolven both raised their arms and begged the NPA to spare their lives, their faces and identities clearly visible to the attackers.

No, the NPA did not spare them their lives and follo