CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — The widow of the New People’s Army (NPA) National Operations Command (NOC) commander of the Communist rebel guer

rillas in Caraga was killed in a gunbattle with army troopers in the hinterlands of Butuan City Wednesday.

 Captain Jonel Castillo, operations officer of the Army 901 brigade 9th infantry division in a report identified the slain rebel leader Myrna Sularte, also known as Maria Malaya, the top leader and secretary of the communist terrorist groups’ Northeastern Mindanao Regional Committee and a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

The report said the rebel leader died in an encounter against government forces under the 901st Infantry Brigade in the hinterlands of Sitio Imelda, Barangay Pianing in Butuan City at approximately 1:20 p.m. of Wednesday.

Castillo said the rebels were chanced upon by army troops about 6:10 a.m resulting in a running gunbattle until 1 p.m. in the afternoon. It resulted in Maria Malaya’s death and the capture of their additional belongings.

Maria Malaya was the widow of the late Jorge “Ka Oris” Madlos, a prominent figure in the New People’s Army (NPA) National Operations Command (NOC), who was killed in October 2021 in an encounter against government forces in Impasugong Bukidnon. The late Ka Oris carried a P5-million reward for his capture.