NPA leader with P5.2-M bounty falls in Negros

MANILA, Philippines - A New People’s Army (NPA) leader – the sixth most wanted in the country with a bounty of P5.2 million – was captured in Negros Oriental yesterday amid the 27-day holiday ceasefire between the insurgents and government security forces.

This occurred as the NPA and the military yesterday swapped charges of truce violations in Quezon and Agusan del Sur.

Army reports said Filemon Mendrez, head of NPA forces in Negros Oriental, was nabbed in Manjuyod town as he faces pending robbery and rebellion cases.

Communist rebels yesterday accused the military of violating the holiday truce for allegedly arresting and torturing five civilians in San Francisco, Quezon.

Armine de Guia, spokesperson of the NPA’s Apolonio Mendoza Command, accused soldiers of seizing five civilians in San Francisco, Quezon and torturing them last Dec. 21.

The holiday truce started last Dec. 20 and will end on Jan. 15.

Col. Generoso Bolina, spokesman of the Armed Forces’ Southern Command, said the arrest was a law enforcement activity, as the five were collared for illegal possession of firearms. Three of them were tagged as NPA rebels, and the two others  were later released. 

In Agusan del Sur, the military accused the NPA of violating the truce by killing an unarmed militiaman in an ambush in La Paz town.  – With Jaime Laude