NPA Leader Nabbed

From the Negros Daily Bulletin (Mar 19): NPA Leader Nabbed

A ranking New People’s Army (NPA) rebel was arrested in Jaro, Iloilo City last Saturday, the military said yesterday.

Bernabe Tobongbanua, with aliases "Mamay" and "Bimboy," was arrested by combined elements of the military and the police, Capt. Major Ray Tiongson, chief of the Public Affairs Office of the 3rd Infantry Division, said in a press statement.

Tobongbanua, allegedly a staff for Regional Finance Bureau and Intelligence Officer of Komiteng Rehiyon-Panay, was arrested by virtue of warrant of arrest forcmurder case issued by Judge Amular of Branch 21, 6th Regional Trial Court, Tiongson said.

Col. Arnold Quiapo, commander of the 301st Infantry Brigade based in Dingle, Iloilo said, "With the arrest of Tubongbanua, the peace and order situation in the island of Panay will be much better. The rule of law must always prevail and we will ensure that justice will be attained by victims of the CPP-NPA and Tubongbanua."

Seized from Tubongbanua were subversive documents of high intelligence value and explosives, Tiongson said.

Major General Jose Mabanta, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, Philippine Army said, "This is an accomplishment of the people of Panay because through their help, we were able to catch Mr. Tubongbanua. Significantly, this will have a great impact on the CPP-NPA leadership here in Panay."
Other appropriate charges will also be filed against Tubongbanua who is also involved in a series of extortion activities especially from the big companies in urbanized areas of in Panay, Tiongson added.

Tubongbanua is also one of the suspects in the torching of a crane in Sigma, Capiz in 2011, and two taxi cabs in Leon, Iloilo in July 2011.

Mabanta stressed that, "This development will add to the leadership crisis which is now happening in the hierarchy of the CPP-NPA. They are now considered a weak organization and with that, we hope to end the insurgency in the whole of Panay."

"We are once again openly reaching out to our long-lost brothers in the CPP-NPA to come down and talk with us especially with the local government leaders because the issues in our society are being addressed through our IPSP Bayanihan and we cannot move on if we keep on fighting. We need to go back to the negotiating table to finally put an end to the insurgency problem of our country," Mabanta added.

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