Ranking NPA leader bagged in Iloilo City operations by military, police

From the Philippine News Agency (Aug 6): Ranking NPA leader bagged in Iloilo City operations by military, police

Troopers from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) together with their counterparts from the Philippine National Police (PNP) arrested a ranking New People's Army (NPA) leader in Iloilo City on Tuesday.

Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, AFP public affairs office chief, identified the arrested rebel as Eduardo Almores Esteban.

Zagala said Esteban was nabbed in Barangay Buntala, Jaro, Iloilo City by virtue of a warrant of arrest for murder issued by the Regional Trial Court Branch 2 in Bangued, Abra.

Esteban is the director of the Communications Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-NPA. He was also the former secretary of the Ilocos Cordillera Regional Party Committee of the CPP-NPA.

Zagala said Esteban's arrest is a great blow to the CPP-NPA whose leadership weakened after the capture of the Tiamzon couple last March.

AFP chief-of-staff Gen. Gregorio Pio P. Catapang Jr. congratulated 301st Infantry Brigade commander Brig. Gen. Arnold Quiapo, who supervised the serving of the arrest warrant, and the operatives of AFP Intelligence Service and PNP who painstakingly pursued the leads for months leading to the arrest.

The operation is in line with Catapang’s instruction to finish-off insurgency and institute peace in rural communities to achieve progress and prosperity.

The arrested NPA leader will be transported to Bangued, Abra to face charges.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=669992