Big Red haul nets top CL rebel

Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director PMaj. Gen. Joel Coronel identified the cornered NPA commander as Jose Esperila Bernardino

Joint law enforcement operations by the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) resulted to the arrest on Saturday of the most wanted New People's Army (NPA) leader in Central Luzon.

Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) director PMaj. Gen. Joel Coronel identified the cornered NPA commander as Jose Esperila Bernardino.

He was captured by police and military operatives last Friday morning in Barangay Sapang Maisac, Mexico, Pampanga by virtue of arrest warrants issued by Paul Attolba Jr., presiding judge of Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 30 of Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya.

Bernardino serves as Regional White Area Committee Secretary of Central Luzon Regional Committee at the time of his arrest.

P4.7-M reward to informant

“He will be presented to the Court for the procedural return of warrant upon completion of documentation and booking procedures,” noted Coronel.

Seized from Bernardino's possession were one caliber .45 pistol, one hand grenade, an NPA flag, subversive documents with high intelligence value, and other personal effects.

Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. Arnulfo Burgos Jr., chief of the military's Northern Luzon Command, vowed there will be no let up in the government forces’ fight against communist terrorists adding that the state forces’ operations are “pushing them on the brink of irreversible collapse.”

He likewise bared that the informant whose tip led to Bernardino's arrest will receive P4.7 million as reward money af ter completing validation protocols.