2 CL rebel leaders arrested

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga - Two alleged top officers of the New People's Army regional command were captured during a police raid in Samal, Bataan last Friday, but a human rights group claimed their arrest was illegal.

Arrested were Teofilo Salazar, said to be the top commander of the NPA's Joselito Agtalon Command operating in Central Luzon, and Linda Roman, also an alleged ranking NPA leader in the region.

A youth leader, Karen Cri-sostomo, was also nabbed, but was reportedly released to the custody of her parents yesterday.

Chief Superintendent Roberto Calinisan, regional police director, confirmed the arrest, but refused to give more details.

The human rights group Karapatan-Central Luzon decried the arrest, saying no arrest warrant was issued against Salazar and Roman who, it said, were mere labor organizers at the Bataan export processing zone in Mariveles town.