Rebel commander with eight arrest warrants falls in Baguio

The government’s campaign against communist insurgency gained momentum with the capture of a ranking official of the New People’s Army (NPA) facing eight warrants of arrest in an apartment in Baguio City the other day.

Chief Superintendent Ismael Rafanan, Central Luzon police director, identified the captured rebel leader as Leopoldo Caluza, 49, commander of the Regional Operation Command of the NPA-Central Luzon Regional Committee.

Caluza, who joined the NPA in 1982, also served as head of the provincial military department and provincial operational command of the NPA’s Nueva Ecija Provincial Committee and secretary of the Kilusang Larangang Gerilya 1/Front 1.

Rafanan said Caluza’s arrest dealt a big blow to the underground movement, explaining that his NPA post is equivalent to a provincial governor or commander of a regional police mobile group.

He said Caluza did not resist arrest when elements of the Nueva Ecija police swooped down on his apartment at Green Valley in Baguio City last Wednesday.

Caluza, according to Rafanan, had eight standing warrants of arrest for murder, rebellion, arson for the burning of cell sites, robbery in band with homicide, extortion, and attacks on business establishments.

Senior Superintendent Alex Monteagudo said Caluza had been under surveillance for about two months.

Police, however, failed to seize any firearms from Caluza.

Rafanan quoted Caluza as saying that he had planned to surrender to the police because he had become disillusioned with the communist movement whose members were involved in criminal activities.

Caluza said he had wanted to give himself up following the killing of his 28-year-old son Arturo last March.

In an executive order, President Arroyo tasked the Philippine National Police to have a greater role in the campaign against communist insurgency.