A TOTAL of 103 wanted Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army (CPP/NPA) officials and members have been arrested and jailed by agents of the Philippine National Police from August 3 to last November 3 amid their stepped up legal offensive versus the Communist Terrorist Group, PNP chief, General Rodolfo S. Azurin Jr. said yesterday.

According to the top cop, the two-month period saw the Police Regional Office 11 in Southern Mindanao headed by Brigadier Gen. Benjamin H. Silo Jr. making the biggest number of arrest with 39 followed by the PRO13 in Caraga region formerly headed by Brig. Gen. Romeo M. Caramat Jr. and now Brig. Gen. Pablo G. Labra II with 20; and the PRO8 in Eastern Visayas under Brig. Gen. Rommel Francisco D. Marbil and the PRO10 in Northern Mindanao under Brig. Gen. Lawrence B. Coop with 9 each.

The other arrests as a result of the PNP’s intensified legal offensive versus the CPP/NPA during the period were made by the PRO6 in Western Visayas headed by Brig. Gen. Leo M. Francisco with 7; the PRO2 in Cagayan Valley under Brig. Gen. Steve B. Ludan with 6; and the PRO1 in Ilocos-Pangasinan region formerly headed by Brig. Gen. Belli B. Tamayo and now by Brig. Gen. John C. Chua with 4.

The PRO3 in Central Luzon under Brig. Gen. Cesar DR Pasiwen; the National Capital Region Police Office in Metro Manila headed by Brig. Gen. Jonnel C. Estomo and the PRO12 in Central Mindanao under Brig. Gen. Jimili L. Macaraeg each made 2 arrests.

On the other hand, the PRO4-B in Mimaropa region headed by Brig. Gen. Sydney S. Hernia; the PRO5 in Bicol region under Brig. Gen. Rudolph B. Dimas; and the Cordillera Police Regional Office headed by Brig. Gen. Mafelino A. Bazar each accounted for 1 CPP/NPA personality during the period.

Gen. Azurin described the arrest of the 103 rebel personalities as another breakthrough accomplishment by the police force in its effort to track down wanted members of the rebel movement.

“This will be a stern warning to all the leaders and members of terrorists’ group who are still at large, the PNP will not stop to hunt all of you down and give justice to all your victims,” the PNP chief said.

“This is evidently another significant accomplishment of the PNP against terrorist groups. Ipagpatuloy natin ang masigasig na pagpapatupad ng ating mga programa at polisiya na naglalayong paigtingin ang pagsugpo sa kriminalidad,” he added.

Gen. Azurin has also ordered the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group headed by Brig. Gen. Ronald O. Lee to further intensify its legal offensive versus the CPP/NPA by launching an all-out effort to arrest its members who have committed a series of atrocities in the countryside

The top cop said he wants the PNP-CIDG to continue to press police operations to account for members of the CPP/NPA and their affiliates who are already the subject of warrants of arrest issued by judicial authorities for crimes against the people.

Gen. Azurin maintained that the PNP’s legal offensive action against the CPP-NPA will continue with renewed vigor, particularly against its key personalities who are wanted by the law to stand trial for their crime before the justice system.

In line with the PNP chief’s instruction, the PNP-CIDG last month filed three separate criminal charges for violation of Republic Act 9851 or The Philippine Act on Crimes against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and other Crimes Against Humanity against three groups of NPA rebels.

The PNP-CIDG also named in their criminal suits as ‘principals by indirect participation and inducement and command responsibility’ self-exiled CPP chairman Jose Ma. Sison, Luis Jalandoni and members of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines negotiating panel Maria Concepcion Araneta Bocala alias ‘Concha Araneta Bocala/Concha Araneta’ and Porferio Tuna Jr.

Also charged before the office of San Jose, Antique Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Jehiel Cusa were 27 suspected members of the CPP/NPA Guerrilla Front 11’s Napoleon Tumagtang Command operating in Panay.

The cases stemmed from an NPA attack on June 2, 2018 along the national highway in Barangay Fabrica in Hamtic, Antique where suspected rebels used a gas torch and sacks of rice to burn a heavy equipment worth P3.7 million.

The arson attack came after the F & J Construction Company reportedly refused to heed the NPA demand for so-called ‘revolutionary tax.’

The PNP-CIDG also filed similar criminal charges against six suspected NPA members before the Kidapawan City Prosecutor’s Office in North Cotabato.

Brig. Gen. Lee said that the charges were triggered by their findings that the accused recruited a minor from Kabalantian, Arakan, North Cotabato to join the rebel movement and subjected him to a training on how to attack and ambush PNP and Armed Forces personnel.

The PNP-CIDG director said that they learned that under the supervision of the accused, the teenager was issued his first firearm-an AK-47 assault rifle—and was named as an NPA platoon leader tasked to harass military detachments and policemen in the mountainous areas of Arakan municipality and its nearby towns.

Another case for violation of RA 9851 was also filed by the PNP-CIDG against a group of NPA members led by one ‘Ka Armando Magbanua’ last August 31.

He said the charges were filed in connection with a complaint from the management of the Hacienda Vicente LN Agustin Farm, Incorporated that after they ignored the NPA’s demand for revolutionary tax,’ the suspects went to their place where they indiscriminate fired their weapons to scare workers and other residents before burning a farm tractor worth P800,000.

Last week, the PNP-CIDG also filed similar charges against 19 CPP/NPA leaders and members in Central Luzon involved in the killing of two Army soldiers securing the distribution of government cash aid for poor residents in Aurora province in 2020.

Slapped with the charges were 19 officers and men of the CPP/NPA’s Komiteng Larangang Gerilya Sierra Madre operating in Aurora and Nueva Ecija provinces especially.

The PNP-CIDG said the charges stemmed from an April 2020 incident in which the accused were believed to have attacked Army soldiers conducting security patrol in Barangay Punglo in Maria Aurora, Aurora to secure the distribution of cash assistance from the government’s Special Amelioration Program.

The leftist gunmen fired at the patrolling soldiers killing one trooper on the spot while another died while undergoing treatment in a nearby hospital. Three soldiers were also wounded in the attack.