Marco Valbuena | Chief Information Officer | Communist Party of the Philippines
January 27, 2023
Gen. Jesus Durante III, whom the police named mastermind behind the recent killing of Davao City model Yvonne Chua, is also the criminal behind the torture and murder of NPA commander Menandro Villanueva (Ka Bok) and the killing of Chad Booc and four others last year.
A few days ago, a special police investigation determined that General Durante, commanding general of the 1001st Infantry Brigade, and former head of the Presidential Security Group under Duterte, ordered the killing of Yvonne Chua, a Davao-city based model. Chua was Durante’s lover.
Murder charges have been filed against Durante and a number of other officers and soldiers. According to the police investigation, a group of six soldiers under General Durante were ordered to carry out the killing of Chua last December 30 using their AFP-issued guns. They shot Chua outside her home in Davao City and took her belongings. Probably pricked by their conscience, a number of these foot soldiers revealed the truth about the crime.
The CPP has taken special interest in this case considering that General Durante was head of the military unit that was directly involved in the torture and killing of New People’s Army (NPA) commander Menardo Villanueva (Ka Bok). Ka Bok was captured by forces of the 1001st on December 25, 2021 in Davao de Oro, and subjected to torture and subsequently killed while under military custody. General Durante himself announced the killing of Ka Bok.
Before she was killed, Chua said she was being physically beaten by General Durante. At that time, she showed her friends on Facebook pictures of her bloodied face, arms and body. These conversations are now being made public. In one of her message, she said: “Feeling ko talaga… papatayin nya talaga ako. Andami kong alam na illegal nyang gawain… Kung isisiwalat ko lahat matataggal sya sa position nya” (I really think he will have me killed. I know a lot about his illegal activities… He will be kicked out of his position if I reveal all these).
More evidence about Durante’s motive was revealed when one of Chua’s friends posted a message from Chua where she said she holds “a vault of evidences and the real story about… the death of Menandro Villanueva aka Bok,” as well as “the real story about the death of Chad Booc.” Chad Booc, a volunteer teacher and activist supporter of the struggle of indigenous people of Mindanao, was extrajudicially killed by military personnel under the 1001st IBde on February 24, 2022 in New Bataan, Davao de Oro together with four other companions, after a meeting with local Lumad communities.
Indeed, had Chua possessed such damning information revealing detailed secrets of the AFP’s dirty operations, she would be target not only of General Durante, but of the 10th Infantry Division and the entire AFP as well.
We join Yvonne Chua’s family and friends in their clamor for justice and demand that all the criminals in the AFP be punished for their brutal crime. We denounce the AFP for giving Durante the Palparan special treatment for taking him into its custody instead of having him detained in police jails.
We denounce the local police for describing the murder of Chua as a “crime of passion” when it was evidently premeditated and carried out with a clear intent to kill. It appears the police does not want its investigation to reveal the real extent of the crime.
We urge all of Chua’s family and friends to reveal all information that can help bring the secrets of the AFP’s illegal and dirty operations to the fore. They can have Chua’s computer and gadgets be subjected to independent forensic examination to retrieve all information that she had stored.
The killing of Chua reveals how the AFP is led by pathological criminals who use their power to order their men to carry out torture and murders. We urge all men of the AFP, especially its rank and file, who can no longer stand the stench of the military to leave the AFP and not allow yourselves to be used in the criminal schemes of their power-hungry fascist officers.
