NPA leader captured in Bukidnon province

From the Mindanao Examiner (May 12): NPA leader captured in Bukidnon province

A senior communist rebel leader who was wounded in a recent clash with military forces had been arrested Saturday at a hospital in Bukidnon’s Don Carlos town in southern Philippines, an army spokesman said.

Major Ezra Balagtey said Elizalde Cañete, who took over the leadership of slain New People’s Army leader Leoncio Pitao’s Pulang Bagani Command, was tracked down by soldiers and policemen at the Don Carlos Doctors Hospital where he sought treatment for a gunshot wound during a firefight in Kitaotao town also in Bukidnon.

“He has been charged for numerous crimes and atrocities he committed. He was responsible for the death of fish vendor Larry Buenafe in Davao City in May last year during the NPA burning of Lapanday Facility there. His group was also responsible for burning of construction equipment used in road projects in Paquibato in Davao City,” Balagtey said.

The rebel leader was previously captured in 2010 after being shot by soldiers in a gun battle in Montevista town in Compostela Valley province, but he escaped after posting bail only to fight again.

General Benjamin Madrigal Jr., chief of the Eastern Mindanao Command, praised soldiers and policemen for the capture of the notorious NPA leader and said: “The arrest of the rebel leader and his eventual prosecution will now give justice to the victims of his many atrocities particularly, to the late Larry Buenafe who was just peacefully earning a living when he was killed by an NPA-laid landmine.”

There was no immediate statement from the NPA on the capture of its leader. The NPA has been waging a secessionist war for many decades now.

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