Most wanted NPA leader in Visayas captured
A PHILIPPINE National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-led operation in Cebu City on Friday led to the capture of a most wanted New People’s Army leader in Visayas region, PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco D. Marbil said yesterday.
The top cop identified the suspect as alias “Ka Marlo,” tagged as a squad leader of the NPA’s Sandatahang Yunit Pampropaganda, Platoon Central Negros and team leader of the SPARU or Special Partisan Unit of the rebel movement in Negros Island.
Members of the PNP-CIDG under Brig. Gen. Nicolas D. Torre III launched the operation that resulted in the arrest of the suspect at Plaza Sa Katawhan in Cebu Coastal Road in Cebu City around 9:30 p.m. Friday.
The suspect was arrested on the strength of a non-bailable warrant for double murder issued on December 22, 2020 by Judge Rosario Carriaga of the Guilhungan City Regional Trial Court Branch 64 in Negros Oriental.
The PNP-CIDG launched the operation following an information provided to the Philippine Air Force headquarters in Lapu-Lapu City regarding the presence of wanted NPA leaders and members in the area.
According to Torre, the suspect was recruited by an NPA member known only as “Ka Jembo” in Guihulngan City. In 2017, following his recruitment, “Marlo” was deployed to the mountainous areas of Hinoba-an, Negros Occidental, where he reportedly underwent further training in guerrilla tactics and subversive activities.
His presence in the area aligns with the rebel movement’s strategic practice of embedding members in remote and inaccessible locations to evade detection by government forces, the PNP-CIDG director said.
Sometime in 2018, intelligence reports indicated that “Marlo” got involved in an armed confrontation with Army soldiers Kabankalan, Negros Occidental. That encounter marked his first engagement with state security forces, a common indicator of the operational readiness of rebel recruits after completing training and indoctrination.
In 2019 After his alleged stint in Kabankalan, “Marlo,” returned to his hometown in Guihulngan City, where he continued to engage in NPA-related activities. Later that same year, he was reportedly deployed to Isabela, Negros Occidental, where he allegedly engaged in another armed encounter with government forces.
The suspect was reportedly promoted as an NPA squad leader in 2021, a position of significant operational and leadership responsibility within the rebel hierarchy.
