P22 million reward to be given to seven informants

From the Business World (Aug 6): P22 million reward to be given to seven informants

MORE than P22 million in reward money will be given to seven informants for the capture of several rebel leaders in past years, including those from the New People’s Army (NPA) -- such as Benito Tiamzon and Dionisio Almonte -- and bandit group Abu Sayyaf, the Philippine military said.

Mr. Tiamzon is identified by the military as the Secretary General and a member of the Political Bureau and Central Committee of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), whose armed wing is the NPA. Arrested in Cebu on March 2014, Mr. Tiamzon carries a P10 million bounty for his arrest.

Mr. Almonte, on the other hand, is a regular member of the Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee of the same rebel group. He was arrested in 2015 and carries a P5 million bounty for his arrest.

The military will also give rewards for the capture of other key NPA officials including

• Dominador Javier, a member of the staff of the NPA Central Front in Cagayan, who has a P600,000 bounty and was killed in a government operation in 2011;

• Ricardo Reyes, a commanding officer of the NPA in the Ilocos-Cordillera Region, who has a P3.35 million bounty on his head and was killed in 2014; and

• Brando Magranga, an NPA Assistant Squad Leader in the Ilocos-Cordillera Region, who has a P150,000 bounty and was killed by the Philippine Army in 2014.

Rewards for the arrest of Abu Sayyaf members Makal Abubakar, Algaber Said and Caharudin Silongan Lacman will also be given. The three were arrested on separate occasions and carried bounties of P1 million, P600,000, and P1.3 million respectively.

Colonel Noel J. Detoyato, spokesperson of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), said that the reward system has been effective in flushing out elements of the rebel movement in the country.

“Time and again, we’ve proven this to be effective although there are times that even if there was no reward, there were still people willing to give information to capture these wanted people,” he told reporters on Thursday.

 http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Nation&title=p22-million-reward-to-be-given-to-seven-informants&id=113057