NPA leader slain in Quezon clash

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Army announced yesterday the death of a New People’s Army (NPA) leader in an encounter with government troopers in Polillo, Quezon on Monday.

Maj. Kim Evangelista, public affairs office chief of the 2nd Infantry Division, said the group of a certain alias Facio, third deputy secretary and political instructor of the NPA’s Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee clashed with personnel of the 1st Infantry Battalion in Sitio Saging, Barangay Binibitinan.

The military said soldiers were dispatched to the area after it received information on the presence of NPA rebels harassing villagers and extorting money from them.

In Kalinga, Northern Luzon Command chief Lt. Gen. Ernesto Torres said Martin Gamay of the NPA’s Ilocos-Cordillera Regional Party Committee was arrested in Barangay Apatan in Pinukpuk town on Monday.

The arrest was based on warrants for murder and attempted murder.