CAMP CAPINPIN, Tanay, Rizal — A leader of the NPA terrorists was captured after a 10-minute firefight against joint AFP and PNP forces at Gloria, Oriental Mindoro at around 10:30 a.m. Friday.
The government forces also recovered one M16 rifle, one Cal .45 pistol, hand grenade, ammunition, IED components, personal effects and enemy documents with high intelligence value when the encounter at Brgy Buong Lupa was over.
According to the military, the combined forces of soldiers and policemen were able to track and engage the NPA terrorists through information given by the locals that a group of NPAs were extorting and coercing them to “share” the DSWD’s social amelioration program and 4Ps cash aid distribution following the implementation of the Enhanced Community Quarantine to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Brigadier General Antonio Lastimado, Commander of 203rd Brigade which has operational jurisdiction over MIMARO Provinces, said that “this successful military operation is among the many indicators that the NPA terrorists are no longer welcome in the region.”
He identified the captured terrorist as Lordan Malucon alias Jandie who, according to informants from within the terrorists’ group, is the Vice Platoon Leader of Platun Dos under the NPA’s Sub Regional Military Area 4D operating in Oriental Mindoro.
He expressed his gratitude to the people of Mindoro for their “unwavering trust and support to the soldiers which led to the communist terrorists’ inability to recover their lost mass base in the region thereby making their defeat in this part of the country very imminent.”
BGen Lastimado ended his statement by assuring their constituents that “Oriental Mindoro’s Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict are continuously working despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic. We will win in these two fronts which we are simultaneously addressing — we will survive the deadly corona virus and we will defeat the deadlier NPA virus.”
Major General Arnulfo Marcelo B Burgos Jr, Commander of the Philippine Army’s 2nd Infantry (Jungle Fighter) Division which covers Southern Tagalog, congratulated the involved soldiers and policemen for their “commitment and dedication in pursuing peace and ensuring the safety and security of our constituents while performing frontline duties against the greatest threat which our generation will ever face.”
He emphasized that the debacles that the NPA terrorists have been suffering in Southern Tagalog is a “manifestation of the fact that the NPA terrorists are now running out of space, they no longer enjoy mass base support, and they are no longer relevant to the communities, thus, expect that they will be decimated soon which will pave the way for the much coveted peace, prosperity and development that every Filipino citizen truly deserve.”
Maj Gen Burgos ended his statement by calling upon “the few remaining NPA terrorists to put down your arms, return to the folds of law and avail the benefits from E-CLIP because we will get you regardless whether they are dead or alive.”
It can be recalled that upon the lifting of ceasefire, Lamberto Asinas alias Baste, the Regional Intelligence Officer of the NPA’s Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee, was apprehended in Brgy Bunducan of Nasugbu, Batangas and will face charges for Illegal Possession of Firearms and Ammunition. He is the 11th NPA leader who is considered as high value target to be neutralized since 2019 by joint AFP-PNP forces.
Per the military’s records, around 3,600 soldiers and AFP reservists are manning 340 Quarantine Control Points across Southern Tagalog.
Joint AFP-PNP checkpoints have been established in the Island of Mindoro to support the ongoing pursuit operations against the fleeing NPA terrorists.
All available military assets have been placed on high alert.
[Kalinaw News is the official online source of information on the pursuit for peace in the Philippines This website is a property of the Civil-Military Operations Regiment, Philippine Army located at Lawton Avenue, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City. Contact us: kalinawnews@cmoregiment.com]
https://www.kalinawnews.com/soldiers-and-police-capture-npa-leader-in-mindoro/
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