VIGILANTES KILL DRUG SUSPECT

GAPAN CITY - Members of the Revolutionary People's Army-Alex Boncayao
Brigade-Red Vigilante Group (RPA-ABBRVG) have made good on their threat to
kill suspected drug lords and pushers here, killing Joel Joaquin, 23,
married and jobless, of Barangay Sto. Nino here, as he watched some men
playing "cara y cruz" in a busy place the other night.

Supt. Benjamin de la Cruz, the chief of police here, said Joaquin was shot
thrice in the head at pointblank range.

The bystanders were caught unaware by the sudden, unprovoked attack by the
unidentified gunman, who walked away towards an unmarked black motorcycle
waiting nearby.

The police reported that Joaquin had a pending case for drugs possession.
The RPA-ABB-RVG bragged earlier that they would kill drug pushers and drug
lords as they were the main problems of Philippine society.

This group was the same one that signed a peace deal with the government in
Negros Island and its members now reportedly act as allies of the police
and the military against the New People's Army (NPA).