Ranking NPA leader arrested

From the Visayan Daily Star (May 8): Ranking NPA leader arrested

An elusive leader of the Komiteng Rehiyonal Sentral Bisayas of the New People’s Army was arrested in Davao City at around 11:15 a.m. yesterday.

Erecre, alleged KR-SB secretary, was nabbed by combined elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police, and members of the Davao City Police Station, under the supervision of the Eastern Mindanao Command and the Central Command of the AFP.

Roy Erecre, “alias Toto and Pasyong”, was arrested by virtue of warrants of arrest for robbery-in-band and frustrated murder charges near the Doña Vicenta Subdivision in Barangay Bajada, Davao City, a police report said.

The warrant for the robbery-in-band complaint, under Criminal Case No. 2116, was issued by Judge Felina Digal-Vano of the 15th Municipal Circuit Trial Court in Bilar Bohol, with no bail recommended.

The frustrated murder charge, in Criminal Case No. 14-010-g, was issued by Judge Kathrine Go of Branch 49, 6th Regional Trial Court in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, with bail set at P200,000.

Erecre’s arrest was announced by Maj. Gen. John Bonafos, commander of the CentCom based in Cebu City, at yesterday’s declaration of Negros Oriental as conflict manageable and development ready province, with the reduction of the insurgency problem to a minimal level.

Also brought in for questioning was Erecre’s alleged live-in partner, Judith Jaron-Niog, “alias Gila”, alleged secretary of the Communications Bureau of the KR-SB.

Military sources said Erecre has been involved in several raids and ambuscades of PNP stations and military units and personnel in the Central Visayas.

These include the June 11, 1999 raid of the headquarters of the PNP Regional Mobile Group, Combat Support Company, and the ambush that led to the death of Lt. Que and Lt. Bungaos in Carmen, Bohol, in 1999, a military report said.

Erecre and Jaron-Niog are now in the custody of the CIDG Region 11.
Bonafos said the arrest of Erecre is timely, with the declaration of Negros Oriental as “conflict manageable and development ready”.

“We can truly show to the public that the organizational structure of the KRSB is already dismantled with the arrest of its highest ranking official,” Bonafos said.

He assured that military and police personnel will take the necessary measures to secure Erecre, a “high profile” person, if he is transferred to Bohol, or wherever he is facing criminal charges.

Meanwhile, Senior Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, chief of the PNP Regional Investigation and Detective Management Division, said records at the PNP Regional Office 7 show that Erecre also has standing warrants of arrest for various cases in Negros Oriental and other parts of the Central Visayas.

The cases include mostly rebellion charges and those related to the insurgency movement, Lawas said.

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2014/May/08/negor2.htm