‘Commander Dante’ Surrenders
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By Cheryll D. Fiel
davaotoday.com
DAVAO CITY – “Commander Dante,” the most wanted man in this city who have been blamed for terrorizing residents in Paquibato District the past months, is now in the hands of the authorities.
Police identified “Commander Dante” as Dante Lumuyod, a 38-year-old resident of Gumitan, a village in Paquibato.
Lumuyod was presented to Mayor Rodrigo Duterte Monday afternoon after he surrendered to the police and the military last Saturday in Paquibato, a hinterland district of the city, known for being the battleground between the military and the communist New People’s Army.
“I have no choice but admit that I am Commander Dante,” Lumuyod said on Tuesday, after reporters asked him if he was indeed the notorious leader of a bandit group accused of terrorizing Paquibato residents, particularly non-Lumads.
According to several residents, Lumuyod’s group would knock on their doors in the middle of the night and harass them. Several murders have been blamed on Lumuyod’s group. As a result, hundreds of residents have evacuated from the area.
Lumuyod told reporters on Monday that he was a member of an anti-communist group. Human-rights groups have long accused the military of being behind Lumuyod and his followers, allegedly as part of their counter-insurgency campaign against the NPA. The military had denied this. Colonel Eduardo del Rosario, commander of the Task Force Dvao, earlier said “Commander Dante” was Ka Parago, the leader of the NPA group operating in Paquibato.
Edgar Alan Marces, an officer of the Davao City Police Office, told davaotoday.com that Lumuyod was turned over to them at around 4 p.m. on Monday by the Mobile Police Group (MPG). He said surrendered last Saturday to a certain Datu Buaya, the leader of a paramilitary outpost in Barobo, Paquibato District.
Lumad leaders in Paquibato had promised to help capture Lumuyod. During the City Council’s public hearing on the atrocities in the hinterland district last April 5, residents had expressed impatience over the failure by the authorities to capture Lumuyod and stop the violence.
In that same hearing, residents volunteered to hunt Lumuyod, especially since, according to them, they knew where the bandit leader’s camp had been staying. According to Datu Duso Baon, a resident of Kilomter 23 in Paquibato District, who is also an official of the village, Lumuyod’s camp was only two kilometers away from a military detachment in sitio Barobo.
Jimmy Dureza, chairman of the City Council Committee on Peace and Public Safety, told davaotoday.com that he believed Lumuyod had no choice but to surrender. “He could not forever hide because the long arm of the law will ultimately reach him,” Dureza said. Lumuyod had a standing arrest warrant for murder.
Lenny Nacua, the mother of one of the residents allegedly murdered by Lumuyod’s group, appealed to the authorities not to free Lumuyod . “All I really want is for them not to release him,” she said on TV. “I want to avenge myself, if only the mayor would give me the chance.”
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte earlier put up a 100,000-peso bounty for the capture of Lumuyod. (Cheryll D. Fiel/davaotoday.com)
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