Delgado said the manner and pattern of Cañete’s killing bore the standard signs of extrajudicial killings committed by the military’s death squads. The number of gunshot wounds and the parts of his body where he was hit showed that he was a target; and that, his killers made sure of his death.
“Only state security forces and their hired goons could commit such treacherous act,” Delgado said.
Canete was the 116th victim of extrajudicial killings in the region since Arroyo assumed power in 2001. Delgado said the act of targeting civilians violated the Geneva Conventions and Protocols of War, and the Comprehensive Agreement for the Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.
Family, friends and members of progressive groups marched the coffin of Conrado Cañete, the father of NPA commander Ka Jinggoy, around the town of Monkayo, demanding for justice, before heading to the cemetery. (davaotoday.com photo by Jose Hernani)
Babita said her husband had been known in their neighborhood as the father of “Ka Jinggoy,” one of the commanders of the NPA’s 4th Pulang Bagani Company.
She also said her husband used to brag to friends during their drunken spree that he had an NPA commander for a son.
Cañete’s friend Miguel Saycon said that as far as he knew, Cañete never had an enemy. “He was very friendly,” he said. “That’s why we were shocked at the way he was killed.”
The 4th Pulang Bagani Command of the NPA pointed to the soldiers of the 25th Infantry Battalion and the 7th Special Forces of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Cafgu elements as perpetrators of the killing.
NPA spokesperson Ka Nadem the soldiers targeted Cañete simply because he was the father of an NPA commander.
“The series of successful tactical offensives by the NPA unit led by his son made him a marked man,” Ka Nadem said.
The military denied involvement in the killing. Captain Emmanuel Garcia, spokesperson of the 10th ID said the military condemned the incident and called for an investigation.
But Babita believed it was her son’s enemies who were responsible for the death of her husband. “They cannot capture my son so they took it against their father,” she said. (Jose Hernani and Grace Uddin/ davaotoday.com)
