Before the end of December last year, the Departments of National Defense (DND) and the Interior and Local Government (DILG) offered a P5.6-million cash reward to anyone who could provide information leading to the arrest of a prominent New People’s Army leader.
According to the media, Menardo Villanueva was a former Ateneo de Manila student. He began as an activist before becoming a terrorist. He rose through the ranks of the NPA’s National Operations Command to become its Commanding Officer. Along with Joma Sison and Julius Giron, he was also third in the CPP’s hierarchy.
He was also one of the founding members of the NPA in Mindanao during the 1970s. He has several warrants of arrest for multiple murders, including double frustrated murder, arson, robbery with intimidation and rebellion, among others. His death was considered a victory not only for the Armed Forces but also for the Filipino people.
May the masses continue to reject the CPP, NPA and NDF in their areas. May the soldiers continue to safeguard communities against the remaining remnants of the NPA’s Southern Mindanao Regional Committee (SMRC) in Mindanao. May government troops continue to strike the ground in search of communist NPA terrorists who are disrupting the area’s peace. – Nica Farrah Amorsolo, Rizal Technological University nicaamorsolo1010@gmail.com