Army in Negros tags another UP Cebu graduate as NPA member

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 21): Army in Negros tags another UP Cebu graduate as NPA member

Another graduate of the University of the Philippines’ (UP) campus in Cebu has been tagged by the Philippine Army in Negros Island as a member of the New People’s Army (NPA) under the Northern Negros Front (NNF).

Capt. Ruel Llanes, civil-military operations officer of the Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade based in Murcia, Negros Occidental, in a statement on Friday, identified the suspected communist rebel as 26-year-old Alyssa Sumulong of Minglanilla, Cebu who studied mathematics in UP Cebu.

Troops of the 79th Infantry Battalion learned about Sumulong’s identity through her journal, which was among the items recovered by the soldiers at the encounter site in Barangay Guadalupe, San Carlos City in Negros Occidental on April 16.

The military was unable to capture any of the rebels during the encounter.

Llanes added that Sumulong also wrote about her traumatic experiences during her stay with the NPA.

Other details showed that sometime in November 2011, she underwent training in the hinterlands of Himamaylan, Negros Occidental.

In 2012, she became a full-time NPA member and was assigned to the hinterland villages of San Carlos City in Negros Occidental; and Canlaon City and Vallehermoso town in Negros Oriental.

Brig. Gen. Eliezer Losañes, commander of 303rd Brigade, said they “thoroughly inspected the recovered documents and these confirmed that Alyssa Sumulong was with the group.”

He urged young people who have joined the rebel movement to surrender to the authorities and avail of the Comprehensive Local Integration Program.

“Live a normal and peaceful life, and do not be deceived by fake promises of a better future,” Losañes added.

During an operation of the 62nd Infantry Battalion in Mabinay town, Negros Oriental last March 3, 21-year-old Myles Albasin, a mass communication graduate of UP Cebu, was arrested with five others after she was accused of being an NPA member.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1032742