Arrest warrant vs Joma Sison, Luis Jalandoni welcomed

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines —  An Army unit based in Negros Island has welcomed the issuance of an arrest warrant against former priest-turned rebel leader Luis Jalandoni and 36 other communist rebels in connection with the Inopacan massacre in Leyte in the late 1980s.

Manila Regional Trial Court Judge Thelma Bunyi-Medina issued the arrest warrant dated Aug. 28 against Jalandoni, Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding leader Jose Maria Sison and 35 others.

Jalandoni is the senior adviser of the National Democratic Front, the political wing of the CPP-New People’s Army.

“This is long overdue in the quest for justice of the many victims of atrocities of the CPP-NPA,” Brig. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, chief of the 303rd Infantry Brigade, said yesterday.

No bail was recommended for the temporary liberty of the accused.