Police dismiss torture claim in deaths of five Philippine rebels in Bohol

This image of Hannah Cesista, one of the five suspected New People’s Army rebels killed in Bilar, Bohol, on Feb 23, is posted on the Facebook page of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL)-Cebu chapter, calling for justice over her death. — NUPL-CEBU FACEBOOK Read more: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1910437/police-dismiss-torture-claim-in-deaths-of-5-npa-rebels-in-bohol#ixzz8SuHbg1nO Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook

MANILA: Philippine National Police chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. said on Monday they were open to an investigation into an encounter in Bilar town in Bohol province last week amid questions on the circumstances surrounding the death of five suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels.

The Central Visayas chapter of the rights group Karapatan has earlier called for an investigation on the operation, which it described as a “massacre,” claiming the slain rebels did not die in an encounter with government troops but were allegedly captured, tortured and killed.