BACOLOD City – The commander of the Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade (303IB) said Mayor Magdaleno Peña of Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental contributed ” resources” for the arrest of National Democratic Front (NDF) spokesperson Ka Frank Fernandez.
In a press conference Wednesday, Brigadier Gen. Benedict Arevalo said Peña helped lead the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to Fernandez’s location in Laguna.
Arevalo said the arrest was a “historical event,” because they also recovered many intelligence sources via the mobile phones and laptops seized from the rebel leader.
He added that the informant who led authorities to Fernandez will receive the P8-million bounty from the government.
In a follow-up interview, Peña said even Fernandez was astounded that he was arrested in just two months, while the AFP and PNP spent years trying to track down and arrest the rebel leader.
According to Peña, Fernandez left Negros in October 2018.
Peña also held a meeting with Fernandez and urged him to tell his followers from the New People’s Army in Negros to stop their alleged killings.
The mayor also noted that some members of the AFP and PNP were eager to kill Fernandez in retribution for the deaths of their fellow soldiers and police officers in Negros, but he urged them that he wants Fernandez alive to face justice.
Peña said he had already forgiven Fernandez for his alleged part in the ambush against him in the town of Pulupandan in 2007. Two aides of the mayor died in the ambush.
Fernandez, along with his wife Cleofe Lagtapon, were arrested Sunday in the town of Liliw, Laguna.
Their arrest came two years after President Rodrigo Duterte permanently suspended peace talks with the communist rebels.
https://thedailyguardian.net/local-news/mayor-helped-in-fr-franks-arrest/
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