NPA chief linked to Agusan mayor’s killing arrested

From the Manila Bulletin (Jul 1): NPA chief linked to Agusan mayor’s killing arrested

CAMP COLONEL RODRIGUEZ, Butuan City – A commander of Communist New People’s Army Terrorists (CNTs), who was been implicated in the 2015 killing of Loreto town Mayor Dario Otaza and his 27-year old son, Darly in Agusan del Sur province, was arrested in San Miguel, Surigao del Sur, a field report received by the police regional command and tactical operations center here on Sunday stated.

The suspect, whose identity was temporarily withheld by government authorities pending more tactical and legal documentary procedures, was completely surprised when lawmen arrived 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday in a target place at Purok 2, Barangay Bolhoon, in San Miguel town, Surigao del Sur province and arrested him on the strength of arrest warrants for frustrated homicide, murder and rebellion, issued by three regional trail court judges in Agusan del Sur on Oct. 10, 2011, Dec. 28, 2010 and Sept. 22, 2009, respectively.

The 46-year old suspect is currently detained at the San Miguel Municipal Police Station (MPS) Jail in San Miguel, Surigao del Sur.

According to San Miguel MPS and Agusan del Sur Police Provincial Office (PPO), the suspect is the head of CNT guerilla committee of the CPP-NPA Northeastern Mindanao Regional Committee (NEMRC).

The arrested NPA leader was the primary suspect in the abduction and murder of the Otazas in Butuan City in October 2015.

The arrested rebel leader had been allegedly identified by Otaza’s security escorts as the head of the rebel team that swooped down on the mayor’s residence in Butuan City.

Father and son were abducted from their home and brought to the outskirts of Butuan City by armed men.

They were found 12 hours later in a mountainous village hogtied and their bodies riddled with bullets, police report said.

The slain Loreto town Mayor was an outspoken critic of the NPA and helped convince nearly 250 rebels, most of them members of lumad (Manobo tribe) indigenous community to surrender to the government, a separate Army report also said.

https://news.mb.com.ph/2018/07/01/npa-chief-linked-to-agusan-mayors-killing-arrested/