CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – A former vice-mayor of Dilasag, Aurora province and his companion claiming to be members of the New People’s Army (NPA) were arrested the other day while allegedly collecting “revolutionary tax” in Barangay Balingcanaway in Tarlac City.
This, amid another police report from Camp Olivas reporting the death of one identified as alias Jester, reportedly the third most wanted illegal drugs dealer in Tarlac, after he attempted to shoot cops who were about to arrest him during a buy-bust sting also in Tarlac City last Tuesday.
The police said former Dilasag vice mayor Gregorio Agustin, 49, and his companion Edmond de Leon, 36, both residents of Dilasag, were arrested in an entrapment operation set by agents of the Tarlac police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Tarlac provincial police at about 2:50 p.m. Wednesday.
The arrest followed a complaint from businessman Albert Acosta of Quezon City who claimed the suspects had been demanding payment of revolutionary taxes to the NPA.
The two were believed to be members of the NPA’s Isabelo Corpuz Command, Front 41, the police said. The suspects were caught while allegedly also collecting such taxes when arrested along the Tarlac-Sta. Rosa Road in front of a public cemetery in Barangay Balingcanaway in Tarlac City.
Police found them in possession of two pieces of hand grenades, a .45 pistol, two magazines for .45, and two motorcycles.
The police said that also last Wednesday in Barangay Panampunan in Tarlac City, alias Jester was killed after he pulled out his .38 pistol upon detecting he had just turned over a sachet of suspected shabu to a police poseur-buyer.
His pistol reportedly misfired and gave cops enough time to retaliate, a police report said.
