NPA leaders fall

A ranking leader and a militiaman of the New People’s Army (NPA) were arrested in separate operations in Surigao del Sur and Butuan City.

One of the suspects was Marie Vic Sustituedo, deputy secretary and finance staff of Guerilla Front Malayag under the North-Central Mindanao Regional Committee’s Sub-Regional Command 2, Caraga regional police director Brig. Gen. Romeo Caramat said.

Policemen and soldiers carried out the operation against Sustituedo in Barangay Adlay, Carrascal, Surigao del Sur, on Tuesday.

The 38-year-old Sustituedo, known by the aliases Bebing and Celin, was a resident of Pangantucan, Bukidnon. She was wanted for kidnapping and serious illegal detention.

Caramat said she was among the rebels who attacked an Army patrol base in Barangay New Tubigon in Sibagat, Agusan del Sur on 19 December 2018.

It can be recalled that NPA members captured two soldiers and 12 members of the paramilitary Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit at that outpost without a firefight, as the troopers were either sleeping or distracted by the visit of a civilian, who was apparently sent by the rebels.

Also on Tuesday, police nabbed 40-year-old Ruel Semacio, alias Wawao, of Barangay Nongnong, Butuan City.