By FROILAN GALLARDO Contributor BUTUAN City––A day before the burial of slain Loreto, Agusan del Sur Mayor Dario Otaza and his son, Daryl, anti-communist tribal leaders here expressed fears that they would suffer the same fate in the hands of the New People’s Army (NPA). Datu Payad Sangkoan Ray Cervantes, chair of the Caraga Regional Council for the Indigenous Peoples, said many lumad leaders are also making a stand against the NPA like the slain Mayor Otaza. Cervantes said Otaza was not the first lumad leader who was murdered by rebels for taking a stand against their expansion. “If the NPA can murder Mayor Otaza who have bodyguards and influence, you can imagine what they will do to lumad leaders who do not have the same resources,” Cervantes said. He said a report from the Mindanao Indigenous Peoples Conference that 357 lumad leaders were killed by the NPA rebels from 1998 to 2008. Mayor Otaza and his son, Daryl, was abducted and murdered by suspected NPA rebels who posed as National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents in Butuan City in Oct. 19. They were to be buried at the Uraya Memorial Gardens in Butuan City yesterday. Cervantes said many of the lumad leaders are not armed like the Bagani warriors, and have no ties with Datu Calpit Egua and the Tejero brothers who were tagged in the murder of a school-for-lumad director and two of his companions in Surigao del Sur in Sept. 1. “Many of our leaders have armed themselves with only bolos and  antiquated rifles, and are no match with the well-armed  NPA rebels,” he said. Some 500 supporters of the slain mayor staged an anti-communist rally at the Guingona Park in this city on Tuesday. Displaying placards asking for justice for the slain Otawa and his son, the rallyists who were composed mostly of lumads from Agusan del Sur denounced the NPA rebels for killing the two victims without the benefit of a trial. “Is this what they call revolutionary justice? They did not even ask the victims to answer to the charges that they were accused of,” Datu Makahinlo Gubat Marcos Gonzales said. The NPA claimed responsibility for killing Otawa and his son “to give justice to the thousands of indigenous peoples and peasants terrorize (sic) by their tyranny in Loreto and surrounding municipalities in Agusan del Sur.” The rebel group also said Daryl was also allegedly distributing and selling illegal drugs in Agusan del Sur. Wilfredo Otaza, younger brother of the slain mayor, denied all these accusations. He said his brother was only working for the development of Loreto, a river town. “My brother was murdered without being given the chance to answer these charges,” Wilfredo said.