A still-unknown gunman shot dead on Wednesday a consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) inside a passenger bus bound for Cagayan.
Chief Supt. Jose Mario Espino said Felix Randy Malayao Jr., resident of Barangay Minanga Norte, San Pablo, Isabela, was shot dead at around 2:30 a.m. while he was sound asleep inside a Victory Liner bus with plate number ATA-9361.
Espino said the suspect went up into the bus right after it parked at the CCQ Bus Terminal in Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya, for its regular stop and shot Malayao.
The bus driver and his conductor were taking their snacks outside the bus when the shooting occurred.
The suspect casually went down from the bus after the incident, boarded a black Yamaha Mio motorcycle driven by a companion and fled.
Citing intelligence reports, Espino said Malayao was listed
as a consultant of the NDFP’s peace panel and was formerly the rebels’
spokesman for
Northern Luzon.
Malayao, also known as alias Salvador del Pueblo, was arrested by Criminal Investigation and Detection Group operatives and Army intelligence agents on May 15, 2008.
He was also among those charged in the killing of the late Cagayan Rep. Rodolfo Aguinaldo in 2001, but Judge Jezarene Aquino of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 5, in Tuguegarao City, acquitted him of the case due to lack of evidence.
Espino said Malayao had served as the overall leader of all sectoral groups operating in Cagayan Valley and was the former secretary of the rebel group’s Komiteng Rehiyon Hilagang Luzon before he became a consultant of the NDFP.