An alleged leader of the Komiteng Rehiyonal-Negros/Cebu/Bohol/Siquijor (KR-NCBS) and two of his companions were captured March 18 in Sitio Tondo, Brgy. Su-ay, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, during a joint operation of the Philippine Army and the National Police, that also yielded firearms and explosives.
Brig. Gen. Inocencio Pasaporte, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, identified the arrested rebel leader as Ramon Patriarca, former deputy secretary of the KR-NCBS. His companions were named as John Michael Tecson, of Brgy. Bulado, Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental, and Carmen Jonahville Matarlo, of Argao in Cebu.
The operation yielded a KG-9 automatic pistol with two magazines loaded with ammunition, two .45 caliber pistols, two fragmentation grenades, 25 cellular phones, a National Democratic Front flag, 310 live ammunition of AK 47 assault rifles, assorted subversive documents and identification cards.
Pasaporte said that Patriarca has 10 pending arrest warrants for murder, issued by Judge Suseco Arcam of the Regional Trial Court Branch 47 in Tagbilaran City, Bohol.
Patriarca is presently the finance officer of KR-NCBS, the police said, and has two pending arrest warrants for frustrated murder and rebellion charges.
In 2009, Patriarca, then deputy secretary of the Komiteng Rehiyonal Sentral Bisayas, was arrested for rebellion charges in Consolacion town, Cebu.
But he was released from a jail in Cebu after a court dismissed the rebellion charges filed against him in 2014.
Meanwhile, Pasaporte said that Matarlo served as a staff member of Patriarca, while Baldonado is a member of the Central Negros (Front) 1, or the Leonardo Panaligan Command.
Maj. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, 3rd Infantry Division commander, said the arrest of Patriarca would further weaken the leadership and organization of KR-Negros, as a whole.
“It is the usual lesson we tell to the NPA, either they go back to the folds of law and surrender, get caught and jailed, or died in an encounter,” said Arevalo, who supervises the Army infantry units assigned in regions 6 and 7.
Just like the story of Frank Fernandez, former KR-Negros secretary, no matter how long it took, he ended up getting arrested, Arevalo said.
He added that Army troops will continue to be relentless in running after NPA rebels, especially that election day is nearing.
“We don’t want the NPA to pursue their extortion scheme against candidates, threaten, or harass them,” Arevalo stressed. | GB
