PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

Special People's Court was to try Tabara for numerous crimes
October 7, 2004

A Special People's Court had recently been set up by the People's Revolutionary Government to try Arturo Tabara for numerous criminal acts.

An article published in the October 7 issue of the official Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) newspaper Ang Bayan reported that Arturo Tabara faced charges of using the RPA-ABB, which he led, to commit criminal acts and perpetrate human rights violations in Negros and Panay islands.

Tabara was slain on September 26 in Quezon City after resisting arrest by a New People's Army unit.

According to Ang Bayan, among the cases filed against Tabara in the Special People's Court are the following:

• Complicity in a bank holdup in Maninihon, Bayawan City, Negros Oriental on May 8, 2002 that resulted in the death of four bank employees.
• Complicity in the killing in March 2002 of 70-year-old Pedro Trabajador, a member of the National Federation of Sugar Workers who actively resisted landgrabbing operations of comprador-landlord Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco in Escalante, Negros Occidental.
• Masterminding the kidnapping of Bombo Radyo-Philippines executive Roger Florete in Iloilo City in 1989. Tabara planned and directed the kidnapping operation together with former NPA General Command chief Romulo Kintanar, where they pocketed as much as P15 million in ransom. Kintanar was himself slain while resisting arrest by the NPA in January 2003.

Before he was expelled from the CPP in 1992, Tabara had also been charged with stealing P15 million from the funds of the CPP. The money is reportedly in the safekeeping of a colonel in the Philippine Army now living in the US.

Tabara and his men in the RPA-ABB have moreover been accused of a number of crimes and human rights violations in Panay island, the Ang Bayan article disclosed. The violations, which are well-documented, include robbery, forcible recruitment of peasants into the CAFGU and harassment. Two of Tabara's co-accused in these cases are Demetrio Capilastique (alias Hugo) and Rufino Cadugo (alias Rocky) of the RPA-ABB, who are also assets of the Military Intelligence Group.

In addition, Tabara faces charges of authorizing the use of the RPA-ABB to serve as "paid goons" in the violent demolition of settlement areas in Boracay Island, Malay, Aklan.

There have also been numerous complaints filed against Tabara for allowing the CAFGU-RPA-ABB to serve as a "private army" of Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco and for involvement in illegal logging activities in Negros in collaboration with Congressman Ignacio Arroyo, Gloria Arroyo's brother-in-law, and Escalante City Mayor Santiago Barcelon, Jr.

The Special People's Court was also looking into complaints regarding Tabara's involvement in giving armed protection to the Red Vigilantes Group, a syndicate involved in kidnapping-for-ransom, the illegal drug trade and other criminal activities in Nueva Ecija.

Reference:
Anne Buenaventura
Media Officer
Cellphone Number: +63910-240-3553



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