Top NPA leader nabbed in hospital

DAVAO CITY – A suspected guerrilla leader of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) operating in southern Mindanao was arrested yesterday at a hospital in Bukidnon while recuperating from gunshot wounds.

The military identified the arrested rebel leader as Elizalde Cañete alias Jinggoy.

Officials said Cañete is the leader of the Pulang Bagani Command of the NPA’s Southern Mindanao Regional Command operating in Bukidnon, Davao del Norte and the mountainous districts of Davao City.

Cañete was said to be behind the attacks on government forces and atrocities in this part of the region. The rebel leader is facing charges of murder, officials said.

Cañete was arrested while confined at the Don Carlos Doctors Hospital in Don Carlos town, Bukidnon. He was reportedly recuperating from gunshot wounds sustained during an encounter with government troops in Kitaotao, Bukidnon on May 10.

Canete was first arrested sometime in 2010 after government troops saved him following an encounter in Montevista, Compostela Valley. However, he was able to jump bail in 2013 and went back to the NPA.

As this developed, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said they are looking forward to positive resolutions of issues being tackled in the ongoing informal talks with the government.

The CPP also urged the government to be more circumspect in issuing statements or comments while the informal talks are ongoing “so as not to preempt the outcome of the informal talks and efforts to revive formal negotiations.” “It was earlier agreed by both sides that unilateral statements will not be issued prior to actual agreements,” the CPP said.

The CPP also urged the media and the public to wait for official statements from the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF) on the outcome of the informal talks.