Govt scores with conviction of Palawan 6

ON Dec. 12, the Regional Trial Court Branch 51 in Puerto Princesa City delivered a guilty verdict for six suspected communist rebels, known as the Palawan 6, on charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. Domingo Ritas, the seventh accused, succumbed to cancer three years ago. Trumped-up charges against human rights workers, the accused and their friends cried. For the government, however, the conviction concludes a successful campaign against the communist insurgency in Palawan.

The group of seven was apprehended at a checkpoint in Palawan's capital city on Oct. 4, 2019. Authorities were looking for Ritas, a lower-ranking commander of the NPA in Palawan. Ritas' companions at the time were a former secretary general of Karapatan Southern Tagalog, the Palawan coordinator of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines and Kabataan Partylist Party, an organizer of Pamalakaya Palawan chapter, two members of the local affiliate of Katribu Southern Tagalog, and the wife of the top NPA commander in Palawan. Yes, Jenny Ann Bautista, a volunteer staff member of Karapatan, also happened to be the wife of Alimar Libuna Toting — the then-commander of NPA Palawan — and mother of his child. A month after Bautista's arrest, Toting surrendered with seven of his men.

RESURGENCE