By Ben Serrano
MALACANANG has condemned the killing of Loreto, Agusan del Sur Mayor Dario Otaza and his son, Daryl, in Butuan City.
Otaza and his son were found murdered in the bushes in Purok 2, Barangay Bitan-agan.
“We grieve with his family, the people of Loreto, the Manobos and other indigenous peoples, and the entire Filipino public,” said Undersecretary Manny Bautista of the Cabinet Cluster on Security, Justice, and Peace in a statement.
Otaza and his son, Daryl, hd been abducted by still unidentified men in their house in Barangay Baan Riverside in Butuan on Monday night.
Camp Evangelista has pointed an accusing finger at the New People’s Army (NPA), pointing out that Otaza was a known collaborator for peace in Agusan del Sur.
Bautista described the 60-year old Otaza as a member of the Manobo indigenous group who stood as a representative of the Lumad in ensuring that indigenous communities were not left behind.
He said Otaza had also founded programs that allowed rebel returnees like himself to live dignified lives upon their return to mainstream society.
The Butuan government has activated its crisis committee while the National Police, supported by the Armed Forces, is intensifying operations to arrest the killers.
Bautista said, “Rest assured that our law enforcement personnel will exert every effort to bring the perpetrators of this grisly, cowardly crime to justice,” Bautista’s statement reads.
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