A ranking communist leader and four of his comrades including a 15-year-old boy was nabbed by government security forces Friday evening in the central Philippine province of Leyte, a military statement said.
The Army's 8th Infantry Division said about 10:10 p.m. Friday, operatives of the 19th Infantry Battalion swooped down on a suspected New People's Army (NPA) lair in Nulatula village in Tacloban City, resulting in the arrest of Paterno Opo alias Loloy/Laloy/Noble and four unidentified companions.
The statement described Opo as the commander of the Mt. Amandewin Command, the NPA unit of the Communist Party of the Philippines North Leyte Front operating in the region.
The statement said the raid was conducted by virtue of a warrant issued by Judge Apolinario Buaya of Ormoc City regional trial court although it failed to indicate what specific case the suspects were facing which prompted the court to issue the arrest warrant.
Seized were an M16 rifle with magazines and ammunitions, three caliber .45 pistols, a caliber .38 revolver, three fragmentation grenades, two rounds of M203 ammunitions, and several rounds of assorted ammunitions and gun parts.
Also recovered were volumes of subversive documents consisting of Marxist-Leninist-Mao Zedong books, minutes of conferences of CPP’s North Leyte Front, CPP/NPA memos and directives, CPP plans during the 2004 elections, financial records of extorted money, and most significantly a copy of the 4th National Convention Report of Bayan Muna entitled “Plano sa Halalang 2007".
Police are readying charges of violation of the election gun ban against the suspects.
Chief Superintendent Eliseo Dela Paz, Region 8 police director said: "We are investigating the involvement of the occupants of the house with the New People’s Army and why a copy of Bayan Muna’s election plan was found on the site."
For his part, Major General Armando Cunanan, commanding general of the Army’s 8th Infantry Division, said: "The CPP’s North Leyte Front is on the verge of collapse following the arrests of its key leaders, including the two successive Front Secretaries, within the period of six months. Alias Laloy is the 2nd high ranking NPA leader neutralized in Leyte since the start of AFP’s Campaign Plan Bantay Laya II. We are well within the timeline set by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to end the insurgency problem in three years." - GMANews.TV
The Army's 8th Infantry Division said about 10:10 p.m. Friday, operatives of the 19th Infantry Battalion swooped down on a suspected New People's Army (NPA) lair in Nulatula village in Tacloban City, resulting in the arrest of Paterno Opo alias Loloy/Laloy/Noble and four unidentified companions.
The statement described Opo as the commander of the Mt. Amandewin Command, the NPA unit of the Communist Party of the Philippines North Leyte Front operating in the region.
The statement said the raid was conducted by virtue of a warrant issued by Judge Apolinario Buaya of Ormoc City regional trial court although it failed to indicate what specific case the suspects were facing which prompted the court to issue the arrest warrant.
Seized were an M16 rifle with magazines and ammunitions, three caliber .45 pistols, a caliber .38 revolver, three fragmentation grenades, two rounds of M203 ammunitions, and several rounds of assorted ammunitions and gun parts.
Also recovered were volumes of subversive documents consisting of Marxist-Leninist-Mao Zedong books, minutes of conferences of CPP’s North Leyte Front, CPP/NPA memos and directives, CPP plans during the 2004 elections, financial records of extorted money, and most significantly a copy of the 4th National Convention Report of Bayan Muna entitled “Plano sa Halalang 2007".
Police are readying charges of violation of the election gun ban against the suspects.
Chief Superintendent Eliseo Dela Paz, Region 8 police director said: "We are investigating the involvement of the occupants of the house with the New People’s Army and why a copy of Bayan Muna’s election plan was found on the site."
For his part, Major General Armando Cunanan, commanding general of the Army’s 8th Infantry Division, said: "The CPP’s North Leyte Front is on the verge of collapse following the arrests of its key leaders, including the two successive Front Secretaries, within the period of six months. Alias Laloy is the 2nd high ranking NPA leader neutralized in Leyte since the start of AFP’s Campaign Plan Bantay Laya II. We are well within the timeline set by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to end the insurgency problem in three years." - GMANews.TV
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